What does it look like?
Old man’s beard is a deciduous climbing vine that grows up to 20 metres tall. It has woody stems with six prominent ribs and pale bark that rubs off easily. The leaves are arranged in opposite pairs along the stems, and each is made up of five leaflets. These are sparsely hairy and have bluntly toothed or smooth edges. Fragrant, creamy-white flowers are produced from December to May. Flowers are followed by dense, fluffy clusters of seeds, which persist over winter.
Old man's beard is a light-demanding species. It grows in low forest, scrub, shrubland, riparian margins and in forests with well-lit margins, wide tracks, waterways or clearings. Native species have only three leaflets, no lines or grooves on the stems, and produce flowers from August to December. The native Clematis paniculata has pure white flowers, and Clematis foetida flowers are yellow.
Why is it a problem?
Old man’s beard is a fast-growing vine that eventually smothers and collapses even tall trees and can reduce a forest to an impenetrable, low-growing infestation of the vine. It moves into established forest over the canopy by layering.
Old man's beard produces huge amounts of long-lived seed, which initially have a high viability rate. It also reproduces vegetatively from stem fragments that form roots and resprout, and vines that touch the ground can also take root.
Control methods
Herbicide control
- Slash thick stems (all year round) at one metre and ground level (to prevent stump resprouting and aerial roots attaching from hanging stems). Paint cut stumps with glyphosate (250ml/L water) or metsulfuron-methyl 600g/kg (5g/L water) or a product containing 100g picloram+300g triclopyr/L (50ml/L water) or triclopyr 600 EC (100ml/L water) or picloram gel. Leave stems in air to die. Dispose of cutaway segments at a refuse transfer station or by burning. Or,
- Spray (spring-autumn): glyphosate (20ml/L water) or triclopyr 600 EC (6ml/L water).
- Stumps resprout very quickly and cut stems root at nodes. Replant bared areas promptly to minimise seedling regrowth. Check for seedlings at least 6-monthly.
More information
Old man’s beard is widespread south of State Highway 5 in Hawke’s Bay. Council do not believe that the benefits of control in this area would outweigh the costs imposed on land occupiers in requiring them to control old man’s beard. However, Council do see the value in working in a partnership with the Department of Conservation in preventing old man’s beard from establishing in the Kaweka and Ruahine Ranges. A 500m buffer zone has been created along the edge of the Kaweka and Ruahine Ranges of which the good neighbour rule (Plan Rule 6) will apply. Council will pay for initial control of the plant within this buffer area, upon forming an agreed work programme with the Department of Conservation.
North of State Highway 5 in Hawke’s Bay, old man’s beard is not so widespread. Significant investment in controlling the plant has been undertaken in this area and Council believes that it is still worthwhile to require land occupiers to maintain to zero density within this area (Figure 9 below). There are a large number of native bush fragments throughout this landscape that would be negatively impacted by Old man’s beard if left unmanaged.
The old man’s beard Progressive Containment area boundary is defined by State Highway 5 from the region’s western boundary to its junction with State Highway 2, then along State Highway 2 from its junction with State Highway 5 to the Esk River, then down the Esk River from the State Highway 2 bridge to the sea.
Related links
Weedbusters listing: Old Man's Beard
Notify Council
If you think you've found this pest, please get in touch with our Biosecurity Team at biosecurity@hbrc.govt.nz or call us on 0800 108 838.
Management Programme
National Pest Plant Accord
All plants on MPI's National Pest Plant Accord (NPPA) are unwanted organisms under the Biosecurity Act 1993 whose formal or casual trade contributes significantly to their spread.
Plants on the Accord cannot legally be propagated, distributed, or sold in New Zealand. If allowed to spread further, these pest plants could seriously damage our economy and environment.
Progressive Containment Programme
There are a number of pests that are well established in the Hawke’s Bay region but their present infestation levels are still low enough for those levels to be reduced region-wide through a progressive containment programme. Progressive Containment programmes have the less specific aim of reducing levels of infestation within their respective management zones. While the general intent is to reduce these infestations to zero-levels at some time into the future, the primary focus of a progressive containment programme is to preventing a pest from spreading. For well-established pests whose harmful effects and spread can still be reduced, progressive containment offers the best ratio of cost to benefits.
The goal is to maintain a pest population at the lowest feasible level and confine it to a particular area while reducing numbers over time. In some cases this will result in fewer sites infested or in others the overall density of the pest will reduce over a 10 year duration period. Containment programmes usually target habitats of high ecological value that require protection and restoration.
Unwanted Organism
An unwanted organism is any organism that's capable of causing harm to natural or physical resources (like forests and waterways) or human health. A number of introduced pests in New Zealand are classed as unwanted.
More informationRules
Plan Rule 6
Except where an occupier of land has entered into a Written Management Agreement approved by Hawke's Bay Regional Council, an occupier, on receipt of a written direction from an Authorised Person, shall destroy all old man's beard plants on the land that they occupy within 500 metres of the adjoining property boundary where the occupier of the adjoining property is managing old man's beard across their property.
More informationPlan Rule 5
Except where an occupier of land has entered into a Written Management Agreement approved by Hawke's Bay Regional Council, an occupier of land shall;
a) destroy all apple of Sodom, Australian sedge, cotton thistle, Darwin's barberry, nassella tussock, saffron thistle, velvetleaf, and woolly nightshade plants on their land
b) destroy all Japanise honeysuckle plants on their land within the defined containment area
c) destroy all old man's beard plants on their land within the Kaweka and Ruahine Ranges buffer area and containment area.
Good Neighbour Rule (GNR)
The "Good Neighbour Rule", under the New Zealand Biosecurity Act (1993), requires occupiers of land to take measures to prevent certain pests from spreading to adjacent properties. There are a number of pests where regulatory control within a property is unwarranted because occupiers make adequate control decisions based on their individual requirements. However, the ease that a pest spreads means that controlling property boundaries may still be required. The Good Neighbour Rule also applies where pest control along a property boundary is deemed inadequate.
More informationTaxonomies
FamilyRanunculaceae
TypePlants
GroupClimber
HabitatLand
Management ProgrammeNational Pest Plant AccordProgressive Containment ProgrammeUnwanted Organism
