06 Dec Balloon vine
Cardiospermum grandiflorum
Seedlings germinate most of the year. Plants spread over ground or climb trees and shrubs. Common in moist gullies along the warm temperate to tropical coast Qld and NSW.
Family: Sapindaceae
Origin: Tropical America, West Indies and Africa
Habit: Herbaceous perennial climber with stems to more than 10m long.
Leaves: 6-16cm long, on a leaf stalk 2-10cm long, with 3 leaflets each further divided into 3; margins of leaflets irregularly toothed.
Flowers: White, 4 petals. in clusters, stalk of the flowerheads end in a pair of tendrils. Flowers for most of the year.
Fruit: Inflated membraneous capsule, 6-ribbed, 4-8cm long, covered with short stiff hairs. each containing 3 blackish, round seeds, about 7mm wide.
Roots: Shallow and fibrous, fragments re-root readily.
Dispersal: Seeds spread by wind, water and contaminated soil
(earthmoving equipment, car tyres etc)
Control: Hand pull/Dig, Scrape and Paint, skirting, foliar spraying.
