BRIDAL CREEPER

Asparagus asparagoides

Description A garden plant with climbing stems. It is now a major weed of bushland where it smothers native plants. Above ground growth is annually produced from its perennial underground root system of tubers.

Leaves Soft, shiny green, 4–30 mm wide and 1–7 cm long.

Flowers White, with six petals, 5–8 mm wide, and appear in early spring.

Fruit Green berries ripen to pink to red-burgundy in late spring-early summer.

Roots Mat, 0–10 cm deep, of branching rhizomes that bear numerous fleshy tubers.

Dispersal Seed dispersed by birds, rabbits and foxes eating and excreting the seed. Also spread by seed and vegetative reproduction from root fragments in contaminated soil and dumped garden waste.

Confused with Native species Wombat berry (Eustrephus latifolius) and Scrambling lily (Geitonoplesium cymosum).

Control Contact your local Rous County Council Weed Biosecurity Officer for control advice and disposal. Manually remove or ‘crown out’ where appropriate. Ensure the removed crown does not contact the soil. Grazing can provide some control. Foliar spray with herbicide.