Top

Scientific Name
Family
Common Names
Origin
Cultivation
Naturalised Distribution
Habitat
Habit
Distinguishing Features
Stems and Leaves
Flowers and Fruit
Reproduction and Dispersal
Environmental Impact
Legislation
Management
Similar Species
Print Fact Sheet
ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWYXZ

Click on images to enlarge

infestation (Photo: Chris Gardiner)

creeping habit (Photo: Chris Gardiner)

climbing habit (Photo: Forest and Kim Starr, USGS)

leaves (Photo: Sheldon Navie)

white flower with five spreading petal lobes (Photo: Chris Gardiner)

tubular flower from side-on with a pair of leafy bracts at the base (Photo: Sheldon Navie)

close-up of flower (Photo: Forest and Kim Starr, USGS)

immature fruit with a round base and elongated beak (Photo: Sheldon Navie)

close-up of immature fruit with small persistent sepals (Photo: Sheldon Navie)

mature fruit (Photo: Sheldon Navie)

close-up of seeds (Photo: Tracey Slotta at USDA PLANTS Database)

seedling (Photo: Sheldon Navie)

young plants (Photo: Sheldon Navie)

Thunbergia fragrans

Scientific Name

Thunbergia fragrans Roxb.

Family

Acanthaceae

Common Names

angel wings, angelwings, fragrant thunbergia, sweet clock vine, sweet clock-vine, sweet clockvine, thunbergia, white clockvine, white lady, white thunbergia, whitelady

Origin

Native to the Indian Sub-continent (i.e. Bhutan, India, Nepal and Sri Lanka), south-eastern Asia (i.e. Myanmar, Cambodia and Vietnam) and China.

Cultivation

Fragrant thunbergia (Thunbergia fragrans) is widely cultivated in tropical and sub-tropical regions for its attractive white flowers.

Naturalised Distribution

This species has recently been recorded at several locations in the coastal districts of eastern Queensland.

Naturalised overseas in south-eastern USA (i.e. Florida), the Caribbean (e.g. Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands), the Mascarenes (i.e. Mauritius and La Réunion) and on several Pacific islands (e.g. the Cook Islands, Fiji, French Polynesia, Hawaii, Niue, Western Samoa, Vanuata and Tonga).

Habitat

A potential weed of closed forests, forest margins, watercourses (i.e. riparian areas), urban bushland, disturbed sites, roadsides and plantation crops in tropical and sub-tropical regions.

Habit

A low-growing, slender-stemmed, spreading creeper or climbing vine.

Distinguishing Features

Stems and Leaves

The slender, green or reddish coloured stems are square in cross-section (i.e. quadrangular) and somewhat hairy (i.e. pubescent) when young.

These stems bear pairs of oppositely arranged leaves that have stalks (i.e. petioles) about 4 cm long. Leaf blades (4-12 cm long and 3-5 cm wide) are egg-shaped in outline (i.e. ovate) or somewhat triangular with arrow-shaped (i.e. hastate) bases. They have margins that vary from being slightly lobed, to toothed (i.e. crenate), or almost entire (i.e. sub-entire).

Flowers and Fruit

The white, tubular flowers (4-6 cm across) are borne singly or in pairs on stalks (i.e. peduncles) emanating from the leaf forks (i.e. axils). Each flower is subtended by two leafy bracts (13-15 mm long) that are either egg-shaped in outline (i.e. ovate) or somewhat elongated (i.e. lanceolate) in shape. The flower tube is narrow (15-30 mm long) and topped with five broad, white, petal lobes (i.e. corolla lobes). Flowering occurs throughout the year, but mostly during summer and autumn.

The fruit is an almost-rounded (i.e. sub-globose) capsule topped with a long, thick, beak (up to 2 cm long).

Reproduction and Dispersal

This species reproduces by seeds and also vegetatively via fragments of stems and roots.

Dispersal of this species is usually facilitated by it being grown in gardens (i.e. as an ornamental), with stem fragments and seeds subsequently being spread in dumped garden waste.

Environmental Impact

Fragrant thunbergia (Thunbergia fragrans) is regarded as a potentially significant environmental weed in Queensland.

Legislation

This species is declared under legislation in the following states and territories:

Management

For information on the management of this species see the following resources:

Similar Species

Fragrant thunbergia (Thunbergia fragrans) is relatively similar to blue trumpet vine (Thunbergia grandiflora), laurel clock vine (Thunbergia laurifolia) and black-eyed Susan (Thunbergia alata), and very similar to native thunbergia (Thunbergia arnhemica). These species can be distinguished by the following differences: