Fallopia baldschuanica (Regel) Holub

Silver Lace Vine; China Fleece Vine; Bukhara Fleece Flower

Vine

Perennial

Vascular

Silver Lace Vine is an introduced perennial vine in the Buckwheat family (Polygonaceae). It is native to Asia. It is sometimes cultivated in Alabama and has escaped at scattered location. Silver Lace Vine is a perennial without rhizomes. The stems are woody, climbing to 30 feet, glabrous, and with gray-brown bark. Leaves are alternate, petiolate, glabrous, ovate in outline, with cordate to sagittate bases. The ocrea is brownish, deciduous, and glabrous. Flowers are produced in drooping, panicle-like axillary and terminal inflorescences. Individual flowers are bisexual and have 5 white to pinkish tepals and 6-8 stamens. The tepals often turn bright pink as the fruit matures. The fruit is a dark brown, glabrous, shiny achene. In Nemesis, by Agatha Christie, the three sisters plant this species to cover the collapsed greenhouse at the Old Manor House. Silver Lace Vine is sometimes cultivated. It prefers a well-draining, sandy soil in full to partial sun. It requires support on which to climb. It tends to be weedy and spreads quickly.—A. Diamond.

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Not Native

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