''Sarcopetalum harveyanum'', known as the pearl vine, is a common plant found mostly in coastal areas of eastern

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country comprising mainland Australia, the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and list of islands of Australia, numerous smaller isl ...

. It can be found in or around

rainforest Rainforests are forests characterized by a closed and continuous tree Canopy (biology), canopy, moisture-dependent vegetation, the presence of epiphytes and lianas and the absence of wildfire. Rainforests can be generally classified as tropi ...

s, and is also seen in

eucalyptus ''Eucalyptus'' () is a genus of more than 700 species of flowering plants in the family Myrtaceae. Most species of ''Eucalyptus'' are trees, often Mallee (habit), mallees, and a few are shrubs. Along with several other genera in the tribe Eucalyp ...

forests. The leaf stalk is attached under the surface of the leaf. The leaves are heart shaped with raised leaf veins on both surfaces of the leaf. Seven veins branch out from the leaf base (A mid rib and three pairs of veins). The inner pair of veins extend almost all the way up the leaf. Leaves are 4 to 12 cm long and 2 to 9 cm wide. The leaf stem is 1 to 8 cm long. The swelling at the base of the leaf stem is enlarged and evident. Red or yellow flowers occur on

raceme A raceme () or racemoid is an unbranched, indeterminate growth, indeterminate type of inflorescence bearing flowers having short floral stalks along the shoots that bear the flowers. The oldest flowers grow close to the base and new flowers are ...

s in summer. These racemes often grow from old wood on the vine. The flowers are tiny and seldom seen, petals 3 mm long. The fruit is a red

drupe In botany, a drupe (or stone fruit) is a type of fruit in which an outer fleshy part (exocarp, or skin, and mesocarp, or flesh) surrounds a single shell (the ''pip'' (UK), ''pit'' (US), ''stone'', or ''pyrena'') of hardened endocarp with a seed ...

, 5 to 8 mm in diameter. They resemble a miniature

bunch of grapes In viticulture, the grape cluster (also bunch of grapes) is a fertilized inflorescence of the grapevine, the primary part of this plant used for food (grape leaves are also used in some culinary traditions). The size of the grape bunch greatly va ...

. Pearl vine is food for the larvae of the moths ''

Eudocima salaminia ''Eudocima salaminia'', the green fruit-piercing moth, is a moth of the family Erebidae. The species was first described by Pieter Cramer in 1777. It is found from India, and across south-east Asia to the Pacific Islands. In Australia it occurs ...

'' and ''

Eudocima fullonia ''Eudocima phalonia'', the common fruit-piercing moth, is a fruit piercing moth of the family Erebidae. The species was first described by Carl Linnaeus in his 1763 ''Centuria Insectorum''. It is found in large parts of the tropics, mainly in Asi ...

''.

References

* Plant Net http://plantnet.rbgsyd.nsw.gov.au/cgi-bin/NSWfl.pl?page=nswfl&lvl=sp&name=Sarcopetalum~harveyanum Retrieved 30 August 2009 * Rainforest Climbing Plants - Williams & Harden page 25 Menispermaceae Flora of New South Wales Flora of Queensland Flora of Victoria (state) Taxa named by Ferdinand von Mueller {{Australia-eudicot-stub