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ARS Home » Southeast Area » Fort Lauderdale, Florida » Invasive Plant Research Laboratory » Research » Publications at this Location » Publication #140521
Title: SKUNK VINE (PAEDERIA FOETIDA)

Author
item Pratt, Paul
item Pemberton, Robert

Submitted to: Biological Control of Weeds in the United States
Publication Type: Book / Chapter
Publication Acceptance Date: 6/20/2003
Publication Date: 7/20/2004
Citation: Pratt, P.D., Pemberton, R.W. 2004. Skunk vine (paederia foetida). Biological Control of Weeds in the United States.

Interpretive Summary: This book chapter is intended to provide an overview of the invasive vine Paederia foetida, its general biology, invasive ecology in the southeastern United States and potential for biological control. In the southeastern US, skunk vine is prevalent throughout central and northern Florida, as well as widely separated occurrences in Texas, Louisiana, Georgia, North and South Carolina. Recent discoveries of the weed in North Carolina and in the more tropical regions of southern Florida demonstrate the weed's continued expansion north and south. Using the weed's native distribution in Japan, it is apparent that skunk vine can tolerate similar temperatures to those found north of Delaware, Maryland and the Virginias. Recently, a feasibility study found the weed to be suitable for biological control, and suggested that herbivores suitable for use as biocontrol agents should be those whose feeding and development are restricted to the tribe Paederieae.

Technical Abstract: This book chapter is intended to provide an overview of the invasive vine Paederia foetida, its general biology, invasive ecology in the southeastern United States and potential for biological control. In the southeastern US, skunk vine is prevalent throughout central and northern Florida, as well as widely separated occurrences in Texas, Louisiana, Georgia, North and South Carolina. Recent discoveries of the weed in North Carolina and in the more tropical regions of southern Florida demonstrate the weed's continued expansion north and south. Using the weed's native distribution in Japan, it is apparent that skunk vine can tolerate similar temperatures to those found north of Delaware, Maryland and the Virginias. Recently, a feasibility study found the weed to be suitable for biological control, and suggested that herbivores suitable for use as biocontrol agents should be those whose feeding and development are restricted to the tribe Paederieae, because there are no North American (and Hawaiian) native or economic members of this tribe.