Distribution

More info for the terms: nonnative species, shrubs

Skunkvine occurs as a nonnative species in Hawaii and the southeastern United States [62]. Its native Asian range extends from Japan through China to eastern India and south to the Philipines, Malaysia, and Indonesia [40]. In the United States, skunkvine has been reported outside of cultivation in North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia, Florida, Louisiana, Texas, and Hawaii. Skunkvine occurs on the Hawaiian islands of Kauai, Oahu, Maui, and Hawaii [36]. In Florida, skunkvine populations occur from the northern counties of Suwannee and Gadsden south to Broward County [24]. Skunkvine is particularly abundant in Florida's Hernando and Pasco counties [11]. The current (2009) distribution and extent of skunkvine in Texas, Louisiana, Georgia, and the Carolinas is not well documented (review by [10]). Skunkvine populations are suspected in Mississippi and Alabama [36], although there were no reports of skunkvine in these states as of 2009. Plants Database provides a distribution map of skunkvine.

Introductions and local distribution changes: There were several skunkvine introductions made to the United States. It was first reported in Oahu, Hawaii, in 1854 [60]. The purpose of this introduction is unknown. Before 1897, skunkvine was introduced by the USDA as a potential fiber plant in Florida [25,32]. Based on early records and skunkvine's current distribution in Florida, the initial introduction site was likely a field station in Brooksville in west-central Florida [11,36]. Skunkvine was introduced in Florida again in 1916 and in 1932. The reasons for and fate of these introductions are unknown [32,36]. By 1903, skunkvine was collected from Seminole County, Florida [48], and before the second introduction of skunkvine in 1916, populations at Florida's Brooksville field station were considered "troublesome" [32]. By 1933, skunkvine was reported in thickets and fencerows in peninsular Florida (review by [25]). In 1968, skunkvine was spreading from a cultivation site in Darlington County, South Carolina [44]. It is likely that skunkvine was planted as an ornamental following its introduction to the United States [15], but reports and direct evidence of this are lacking. Skunkvine was first reported in Louisiana in 1983, when Thomas and McCoy [54] found large populations in the Jungle Botanical Gardens on Avery Island and also found plants growing over shrubs on the University of southwestern Louisiana campus in Lafayette Parish. In 1989 skunkvine was reported in Harris County, Texas [6], and an "extensive plant" was reported in Zoological Park in Randolph County, North Carolina, in 1998 [8].

Although not common at the most northern and southern portions of its US range [8,46], the extension of skunkvine's range into North Carolina and southern Florida is recent and suggests some long-distance dispersal mechanism. As of 1999, skunkvine's distribution in the Carolinas had not changed considerably [8]. On the Coastal Plain, skunkvine is generally limited to disturbed sites. Spread from cultivated sites has been limited (Radford and Weakly 1998 cited in [8]). In Florida, however, some reports indicate recent and fairly rapid southward spread. As of 1982, skunkvine was reported only as far south as Hillsborough County [65], but by 1996, skunkvine was reported as far south as Broward County, Florida [38]. Although surveys conducted in 1991 and 1995 in Broward County's Long Key Park did not report skunkvine, in a 1996 survey, it occupied over 6,810 feet² (633 m²) of the Park (Dehring 1999 cited in [38]).