''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 Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...

. It can be found in or around

rainforest Rainforests are characterized by a closed and continuous tree canopy, moisture-dependent vegetation, the presence of epiphytes and lianas and the absence of wildfire. Rainforest can be classified as tropical rainforest or temperate rainfores ...

s, and is also seen in

eucalyptus ''Eucalyptus'' () is a genus of over seven hundred species of flowering trees, shrubs or mallees in the myrtle family, Myrtaceae. Along with several other genera in the tribe Eucalypteae, including '' Corymbia'', they are commonly known as euca ...

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 ) or racemoid is an unbranched, 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 produced as the s ...

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 an indehiscent fruit in which an outer fleshy part (exocarp, or skin, and mesocarp, or flesh) surrounds a single shell (the ''pit'', ''stone'', or '' pyrena'') of hardened endocarp with a seed (''kernel'') ...

, 5 to 8 mm in diameter. They resemble a miniature bunch of grapes. Pearl vine is food for the larvae of the moths '' Eudocima salaminia'' and '' Eudocima fullonia''. Sarcopetalum harveyanum

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 (Australia) Taxa named by Ferdinand von Mueller {{Australia-eudicot-stub