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Stephania japonica
Also called Ivyweed, Tapevine
Snake vine (Stephania japonica) is a climbing vine of the moonseed family, often found in sheltered coastal areas across tropical and subtropical Asia and the Pacific. It grows best in warm, humid conditions with shelter from strong winds and frost.
Stephania japonica, known as snake vine, is a vine often seen in sheltered areas near the sea.
Protostephanine is an alkaloid collected from Stephania japonica. Antihypertensive agent.
In Australia, it is widespread vine seen as far south as Eden, New South Wales and north through Queensland. It is also found in Japan, India, Nepal, and many other areas of south-east Asia and the Pacific region. The original specimen was collected in Japan, hence the specific epithet “japonica”. The variety in New South Wales is known as bicolor, as the under-side of the leaf is somewhat paler than above.
Stephania capitata · Stephania cephalantha · Stephania crebra · Stephania pierrei · Stephania tomentella · Stephania
Text excerpted from the Wikipedia article Stephania japonica by its contributors, under CC BY-SA 4.0; the excerpts and the care summary drawn from them are shared under the same licence.
The care summary was written by AI (Claude, Anthropic) from the sources on this page, with general growing knowledge where they are silent. Check before relying on it.
Life form, climate and native range: World Checklist of Vascular Plants, Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew (CC BY 3.0), reformatted; see Plants of the World Online.
