Cynanchum laeve (Michx.) Pers.

Sandvine; Bluevine; Honey Vine

Vine

Perennial

Vascular

Honey Vine is a native perennial herbaceous vine in the Dogbane family (Apocynaceae). It is found primarily in those parts of the state with basic soils such as the Tennessee Valley and Black Belt regions. It grows along streams and rivers, in wet prairies, and around the edge of fields. It is an herbaceous vine up to 10 feet in length that climbs by twining. Honey Vine has a taproot and long thin rhizomes that spread from it. The stem is green or reddish in color and glabrous or with lines of small white hairs. Leaves are opposite, petiolate, cordate in outline, with entire margins. The leaves are glabrous and often of contrasting colors along the veins. Flowers are produced in umbellate corymbs from the axils of the leaves. The corolla has 5 linear white lobes that are often pink tinged in bud. The corolla lobes are often “twisted”. There is a variable corona in the center of the flower. The flowers produce a heavy sweet odor. The fruit is a smooth follicle. The flat seed have a tuft of white hair at one end that aids in wind dispersal. Honey Vine can be purchased from some nurseries that specialize in plants for butterflies. It is a larval food plant for the Monarch Butterfly (Danaus plexippus). It can also be grown from seed. Honey Vine prefers full or partial sun and a clay soil. It will need a trellis or other support to climb on. It can spread from sprouts along the rhizomes, and can be difficult to control. It is considered an agricultural weed in some mid-western states. --A. Diamond

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Native FAC (NWPL)

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