Hibbertia scandens

Location & distribution maps

Plant  information

Common name:         Climbing Guinea Flower

• Also, snake vine and golden guinea vine

Conservation status: . . .

Etymology:   

• The name Hibbertia honours George Hibbert, a patron of botany and slave trader

• The specific epithet (scandens) is derived from Latin, and means "climbing"

Flowers:                            

• The flowers are arranged in leaf axils, each flower on a peduncle 2–4 mm long

• The sepals are 15–25 mm long and the petals are yellow, 20–30 mm long

• More than thirty stamens surrounding the three to seven glabrous carpels

• Flowering occurs in most months 

• 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"

• Fruit:                            

• The fruit is an orange aril

Leaves:         

• The leaves are lance-shaped or egg-shaped with the narrower end towards the base, 30–80 mm long and 15–25 mm wide, sessile and often stem-clasping with the lower surface silky-hairy

Stem & branches: 

• Stems 2–5 m long

Roots:         

Habit:        

• It is climber or scrambler 

Habitat:   

• Hibbertia scandens grows on coastal sand dunes, in open forest and at rainforest margins 

Distribution:                  

• Endemic to eastern Australia

• From Proserpine in north-eastern Queensland to the far south coast of NSW

• The species also occurs as an uncommon weed in Auckland, New Zealand

Additional notes:     

• Taxonomy

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

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

  • Three varieties of H. scandens have been described and the names are accepted by the Australian Plant Census but not by the National Herbarium of New South Wales:[1]

    • Hibbertia scandens var. glabra 

    • Hibbertia scandens var. oxyphylla 

    • Hibbertia scandens var. scandens

• Ecology

  • Some pollination surveys place beetles (from the Scarabaeidae, Chrysomelidae and Curculionidae) as the main pollinators of Hibbertia scandens, as well as Hibbertia hypericoides (DC.) Benth., and other species from the Dilleniaceae family, they also place bees and flies as secondary importance

• 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 5 °C it requires winter protection in temperate regions

  • In the United Kingdom it has gained the Royal Horticultural Society’s Award of Garden Merit

• In popular culture

  • Hibbertia scandens appeared on an Australian postage stamp in 1999

Sources of information:

• https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hibbertia_scandens (2023)