Vine threat to N.Z. native bush

Press, 20 September 1982, Page 26

Vine threat to N.Z. native bush

A vine which is smothering New Zealand’s native bush will be the target of a Wellington seminar on November 17. The Lands and Survey Department is organising the seminar on Clematis vitalba, known as “Old Man’s Beard,” to explore control methods and increase public awareness of the problem. Native bush in Taihape faces destruction from the vine which grows in a smothering canopy over plants and trees that support it. The Wellington Parks and Reserves Board asked the seminar as part of a campaign to warn home gar-

deners of the danger from Old Man’s Beard, said the board in a statement. No control methods were known to eliminate the vine without destroying the native bush but the board hoped herbicide research would answer the problem. Widespread seed dispersal made scrub-cutting methods ineffective. The chairman of the Westland National Park and Reserves Board, Mr J. Keenan, said that old Man’s Beard was mostly confined to the North Island but seemed to be creeping south. The board would be worried if the vine became established on the West Coast.