''Hibbertia scandens'', sometimes known by the common names snake vine, climbing guinea flower and golden guinea vine, is a species of flowering plant in the family

Dilleniaceae Dilleniaceae is a family of flowering plants with 11 genera and about 430 known species. It is known to gardeners for the genus '' Hibbertia'', which contains many commercially valuable garden species. Description and distribution The family is ...

and is

endemic Endemism is the state of a species being found only in a single defined geographic location, such as an island, state, nation, country or other defined zone; organisms that are indigenous to a place are not endemic to it if they are also foun ...

to eastern Australia. It is climber or scrambler with lance-shaped or egg-shaped leaves with the narrower end towards the base, and yellow flowers with more than thirty

stamen The stamen (: stamina or stamens) is a part consisting of the male reproductive organs of a flower. Collectively, the stamens form the androecium., p. 10 Morphology and terminology A stamen typically consists of a stalk called the filament ...

s arranged around between three and seven

glabrous Glabrousness () is the technical term for a lack of hair, down, setae, trichomes, or other such covering. A glabrous surface may be a natural characteristic of all or part of a plant or animal, or be due to loss because of a physical condition, ...

carpels Gynoecium (; ; : gynoecia) is most commonly used as a collective term for the parts of a flower that produce ovules and ultimately develop into the fruit and seeds. The gynoecium is the innermost whorl of a flower; it consists of (one or more) ...

Description

''Hibbertia scandens'' is a climber or scrambler with stems long. The leaves are lance-shaped or egg-shaped with the narrower end towards the base, long and wide,

sessile Sessility, or sessile, may refer to: * Sessility (motility), organisms which are not able to move about * Sessility (botany), flowers or leaves that grow directly from the stem or peduncle of a plant * Sessility (medicine), tumors and polyps that ...

and often stem-clasping with the lower surface silky-hairy. The flowers are arranged in leaf axils, each flower on a peduncle long. The

sepal A sepal () is a part of the flower of angiosperms (flowering plants). Usually green, sepals typically function as protection for the flower in bud, and often as support for the petals when in bloom., p. 106 Etymology The term ''sepalum'' ...

s are long and the petals are yellow, long with more than thirty stamens surrounding the three to seven glabrous carpels. Flowering occurs in most months and the fruit is an orange aril. Plants near the coast tend to be densely hairy with spatula-shaped leaves and have flowers with six or seven carpels, whilst those further inland are usually more or less glabrous with tapering leaves and flowers with three or four carpels. The flowers have been reported as having an unpleasant odour variously described as similar to mothballs or animal urine or sweet but with "a pronounced faecal element".

Taxonomy

Snake vine was first formally described in 1799 by German botanist Carl Willdenow who gave it the name ''Dillenia scandens'' in ''

Species Plantarum ' (Latin for "The Species of Plants") is a book by Carl Linnaeus, originally published in 1753, which lists every species of plant known at the time, classified into genus, genera. It is the first work to consistently apply binomial nomenclature ...

''. In 1805, Swedish botanist Jonas Dryander transferred the species into the genus ''Hibbertia'' as ''H. scandens'' in the ''Annals of Botany''. The

specific epithet In Taxonomy (biology), taxonomy, binomial nomenclature ("two-term naming system"), also called binary nomenclature, is a formal system of naming species of living things by giving each a name composed of two parts, both of which use Latin gramm ...

(''scandens'') is derived from Latin, and means "climbing". Three varieties of ''H. scandens'' have been described and the names are accepted by the

Australian Plant Census The Australian Plant Census (APC) provides an online interface to currently accepted, published, scientific names of the vascular flora of Australia, as one of the output interfaces of the national government Integrated Biodiversity Information Sys ...

but not by the

National Herbarium of New South Wales The National Herbarium of New South Wales was established in 1853. The Herbarium has a collection of more than 1.4 million plant specimens, making it the second largest collection of pressed, dried plant specimens in Australia,Thiers, B. ...

: * ''Hibbertia scandens'' var. ''glabra'' (

Maiden Virginity is a social construct that denotes the state of a person who has never engaged in sexual intercourse. As it is not an objective term with an operational definition, social definitions of what constitutes virginity, or the lack thereof ...

) C.T.White; * ''Hibbertia scandens'' var. ''oxyphylla'' Domin; * ''Hibbertia scandens'' (Willd.) Dryand. var. ''scandens''.

Distribution and habitat

''Hibbertia scandens'' grows on coastal sand dunes, in open forest and at rainforest margins in an area extending from Proserpine in north-eastern Queensland to the far south coast of New South Wales. The species also occurs as an uncommon weed in

Auckland Auckland ( ; ) is a large metropolitan city in the North Island of New Zealand. It has an urban population of about It is located in the greater Auckland Region, the area governed by Auckland Council, which includes outlying rural areas and ...

, New Zealand.

Ecology

Some pollination surveys place beetles (from the

Scarabaeidae The family Scarabaeidae, as currently defined, consists of over 35,000 species of beetles worldwide; they are often called scarabs or scarab beetles. The classification of this family has undergone significant change. Several groups formerly tre ...

Chrysomelidae The beetle family Chrysomelidae, commonly known as leaf beetles, includes over 37,000 (and probably at least 50,000) species in more than 2,500 genera, making it one of the largest and most commonly encountered of all beetle families. Numerous s ...

and

Curculionidae The Curculionidae are a family of weevils, commonly called snout beetles or true weevils. They are one of the largest animal families with 6,800 genera and 83,000 species described worldwide. They are the sister group to the family Brentidae. Th ...

) as the main pollinators of ''Hibbertia scandens'', as well as '' Hibbertia hypericoides'' , and other species from the Dilleniaceae family, they also place bees and flies as secondary importance (such as Keighery 1975).

Use in horticulture

This species is common in cultivation and adapts to a wide range of growing conditions, including where it is exposed to salt-laden winds. Although it readily grows in semi-shaded areas, it flowers best in full sun and prefers well-drained soil. As it is only hardy down to it requires winter protection in temperate regions. In the United Kingdom it has gained the

Royal Horticultural Society The Royal Horticultural Society (RHS), founded in 1804 as the Horticultural Society of London, is the UK's leading gardening charity. The RHS promotes horticulture through its five gardens at Wisley (Surrey), Hyde Hall (Essex), Harlow Carr ...

Award of Garden Merit The Award of Garden Merit (AGM) is a long-established award for plants by the British Royal Horticultural Society (RHS). It is based on assessment of the plants' performance under UK growing conditions. It includes the full range of cultivated p ...

In popular culture

''Hibbertia scandens'' appeared on an Australian postage stamp in 1999.

References

External links

{{Taxonbar, from=Q5750660 scandens Flora of New South Wales Flora of Queensland Plants described in 1806 Taxa named by Carl Ludwig Willdenow Plants that can bloom all year round