''Causonis japonica'' (also known by its synonym ''

Cayratia ''Cayratia'' is a genus of flowering plants in the family Vitaceae. It consists of species of vine plants, typical of the tribe Cayratieae. Some of them are used by humans, and they are found in tropical and subtropical areas of Asia, Africa, Au ...

japonica'' and common names bushkiller, yabu garashi and Japanese cayratia herb) is a vine plant in the grape family,

Vitaceae The Vitaceae are a family of flowering plants, with 14 genera and around 910 known species, including common plants such as Vitis, grapevines (''Vitis'' spp.) and Parthenocissus quinquefolia, Virginia creeper (''Parthenocissus quinquefolia''). Th ...

. It is the

type species In International_Code_of_Zoological_Nomenclature, zoological nomenclature, a type species (''species typica'') is the species name with which the name of a genus or subgenus is considered to be permanently taxonomically associated, i.e., the spe ...

of its genus and is native to tropical and subtropical Asia, Australia and the West Pacific. It is used as a

traditional Chinese medicine Traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) is an alternative medicine, alternative medical practice drawn from traditional medicine in China. A large share of its claims are pseudoscientific, with the majority of treatments having no robust evidence ...

to relieve swelling and heat, and to enhance

diuresis Diuresis () is the excretion of urine, especially when excessive (polyuria). The term collectively denotes the physiologic processes underpinning increased urine production by the kidneys during maintenance of fluid balance. In healthy people, ...

and

detoxification Detoxification or detoxication (detox for short) is the physiological or medicinal removal of toxic substances from a living organism, including the human body, which is mainly carried out by the liver. Additionally, it can refer to the period o ...

Description

''Causonis japonica'' is a perennial herbaceous vine with compound, alternately branching leaves.

Tendril In botany, a tendril is a specialized Plant stem, stem, leaf or Petiole (botany), petiole with a thread-like shape used by climbing plants for support and attachment, as well as cellular invasion by parasitic plants such as ''Cuscuta''. There ar ...

s grow opposite each leaf. The leaves have 5 leaflets with dentate

margins Margin may refer to: Physical or graphical edges *Margin (typography), the white space that surrounds the content of a page *Continental margin, the zone of the ocean floor that separates the thin oceanic crust from thick continental crust *Leaf ...

and a white coloration on the lower surface. The leaflets are arranged in a semi-palmate arrangement with 2 pairs of 2 with 1 singular leaflet with a longer stem in the center. It flowers in the late summer with red, white, and yellow flowers developing in

umbel UMBEL (Upper Mapping and Binding Exchange Layer) is a logically organized knowledge graph of 34,000 concepts and entity types that can be used in information science for relating information from disparate sources to one another. It was retired ...

s and producing grape-like berries with 2-4 seeds. In South Korea it flowers in July and August, with its fruit ripening in September and November, while in the southern hemisphere, in the Australian

Northern Territory The Northern Territory (abbreviated as NT; known formally as the Northern Territory of Australia and informally as the Territory) is an states and territories of Australia, Australian internal territory in the central and central-northern regi ...

, it flowers and fruits in October. This species may be confused with

Virginia creeper ''Parthenocissus quinquefolia'', commonly known as Virginia creeper, woodbine, five-leaved ivy, or five-finger, is a species of flowering vine in the grape family Vitaceae. The species is native to eastern and central North America, with its r ...

in that they both have leaves with 5 toothed leaflets, but Virginia creeper lacks a petiolule (stem connecting a leaflet to the main leaf stem) on any of the leaflets.

Habitat

It is a vine which grows on the edges of rainforests.

Taxonomy

As can be seen from the list of synonyms, this species has been named and renamed many times. It was first described as ''Vitis japonica'' in 1784 by

Carl Peter Thunberg Carl Peter Thunberg, also known as Karl Peter von Thunberg, Carl Pehr Thunberg, or Carl Per Thunberg (11 November 1743 – 8 August 1828), was a Sweden, Swedish Natural history, naturalist and an Apostles of Linnaeus, "apostle" of Carl Linnaeus ...

from a specimen found near

Nagasaki , officially , is the capital and the largest Cities of Japan, city of Nagasaki Prefecture on the island of Kyushu in Japan. Founded by the Portuguese, the port of Portuguese_Nagasaki, Nagasaki became the sole Nanban trade, port used for tr ...

. Its current name was given in 1838 by

Constantine Samuel Rafinesque Constantine Samuel Rafinesque-Schmaltz (; 22 October 178318 September 1840) was a French early 19th-century polymath born near Constantinople in the Ottoman Empire and self-educated in France. He traveled as a young man in the United States, ult ...

, when he transferred the species to the genus ''

Causonis ''Causonis'' is a genus of flowering plants belonging to the family Vitaceae; it is now placed in the tribe Cayratieae. Its native range is Tropical and Subtropical Asia to Southwestern Pacific. Species ''Plants of the World Online Plants ...

''. in 1798,

Carl Ludwig Willdenow Carl Ludwig Willdenow (22 August 1765 – 10 July 1812) was a German botanist, pharmacist, and plant Taxonomy (biology), taxonomist. He is considered one of the founders of phytogeography, the study of the geographic distribution of plants. ...

transferred it to the genus ''

Cissus ''Cissus'' is a genus of approximately 350 species of lianas (Woody plant, woody vines) in the grape family (Vitaceae). They have a cosmopolitan distribution, though the majority are to be found in the tropics. Decription Extrafloral nectaries ...

'', to give ''Cissus japonica''.Willdenow, C.L. (1798) i
Species Plantarum Edn. 4, 1(2): 659
In 1918,

Elmer Drew Merrill Elmer Drew Merrill (October 15, 1876 – February 25, 1956) was an American botanist and taxonomist. He spent more than twenty years in the Philippines where he became a recognized authority on the flora of the Asia-Pacific region. Through ...

transferred it to the genus ''Columella''. In 1911,

François Gagnepain François Gagnepain (23 September 1866 – 25 January 1952) was a French botanist. The standard botanical author abbreviation Gagnep. is applied to plants described by Gagnepain. With Achille Eugène Finet, he named a number of species with ...

transferred it to the genus ''

'', to give ''Cayratia japonica'', a name which was accepted by Australian authorities until at least 2020, and which remains its accepted name in

South Korea South Korea, officially the Republic of Korea (ROK), is a country in East Asia. It constitutes the southern half of the Korea, Korean Peninsula and borders North Korea along the Korean Demilitarized Zone, with the Yellow Sea to the west and t ...

As an introduced species in the US

''Causonis japonica'' has been introduced in tropical areas of the United States including

Texas Texas ( , ; or ) is the most populous U.S. state, state in the South Central United States, South Central region of the United States. It borders Louisiana to the east, Arkansas to the northeast, Oklahoma to the north, New Mexico to the we ...

Louisiana Louisiana ( ; ; ) is a state in the Deep South and South Central regions of the United States. It borders Texas to the west, Arkansas to the north, and Mississippi to the east. Of the 50 U.S. states, it ranks 31st in area and 25 ...

Mississippi Mississippi ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern and Deep South regions of the United States. It borders Tennessee to the north, Alabama to the east, the Gulf of Mexico to the south, Louisiana to the s ...

Alabama Alabama ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern and Deep South, Deep Southern regions of the United States. It borders Tennessee to the north, Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia to the east, Florida and the Gu ...

, and

North Carolina North Carolina ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern region of the United States. It is bordered by Virginia to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the east, South Carolina to the south, Georgia (U.S. stat ...

, where it is known as bushkiller. It can outcompete native plants and stress native trees by blocking sunlight and weighing them down. Controlling this weed is difficult as it can regenerate from

rhizome In botany and dendrology, a rhizome ( ) is a modified subterranean plant stem that sends out roots and Shoot (botany), shoots from its Node (botany), nodes. Rhizomes are also called creeping rootstalks or just rootstalks. Rhizomes develop from ...

s that remain in the soil. Cutting the stems at the ground and applying a systemic herbicide will often kill the plant.

Compost Compost is a mixture of ingredients used as plant fertilizer and to improve soil's physical, chemical, and biological properties. It is commonly prepared by Decomposition, decomposing plant and food waste, recycling organic materials, and man ...

ing it is not recommended as it can re-sprout from buried stems.

References

* *

External links

''Causonia japonica'': images & occurrence data
from

GBIF The Global Biodiversity Information Facility (GBIF) is an international organisation that focuses on making scientific data on biodiversity available via the Internet using web services. The data are provided by many institutions from around the ...

{{Taxonbar, from=Q58759403, from2=Q1023841 Vitaceae Flora of Asia Flora of Queensland