Plants of South Eastern New South Wales

Clematicissus opaca

Flowers and leaves. Australian Plant Image Index, photographer Murray Fagg, Australian National Botanic Gardens, Canberra, ACT

Fruit and leaves. Australian Plant Image Index, photographer Murray Fagg, north of Taroom, Qld

Leaves. Photographer Jackie Miles, near Cessnock

Common name

Pepper vine, Small-leaved water vine

Family

Vitaceae

Where found

Forest, often on rocky outcrops. Blue Mountains to Thirroul.

Notes

Weak climber or scrambler, stems to several metres long.  Fruit fleshy. Stems mostly hairless. Leaves alternating up the stems, 5-12 cm long, compound (rarely simple on juvenile growth), mostly with 3–7 leaflets each 0.5–14 cm long, 3–30 mm wide, hairless, upper surface green, lower surface paler or glaucous or sometimes purplish, margins toothed or lobed to entire. Tendrils usually unbranched. Flowers yellowish, greenish cream, or reddish brown, with 5 petals, each 1.5–3 mm long. Flower clusters 4–10-flowered, sometimes paired. Flowering chiefly summer. Grapes purplish to bluish black, often with a greyish bloom, more or less globular, 6-13 mm in diameter.

PlantNET description:  http://plantnet.rbgsyd.nsw.gov.au/cgi-bin/NSWfl.pl?page=nswfl&lvl=sp&name=Clematicissus~opaca (accessed 7 January, 2021)