Family: Malpighiaceae
Common name: Gold vine, Australian gold vine, Shower of gold climber, Galphimia vine, Maiden’s jealousy, Vining milkweed
A beautiful climber with bunches of glowing yellow flowers, Gold vines are perfect for garden trellis or arches. They are fast growers, climbing quickly on garden structures or surrounding vegetation to a height of 10 meters.
The leaves are opposite, oblong, glossy and dark green, about 12 cms long. Gold vines can flowers throughout the year, producing bunches of yellow flowers with red stamen bases which are a stark contrast to the yellow flowers.
Flowers are borne on short racemes, each bunch having about 30 flowers, the lower ones opening first while the upper ones are still buds. These 5-petaled flowers later produce star shaped fruits, which are initially green, but later turn into dark brown capsules. The capsules dehisce or burst open to release the seeds contained inside. Each flowers can produce up to 3 fruits.
The beautiful flowers, and year-round flowering nature of Gold vine plants make them ideal for parks, gardens and compound walls as ornamental plants. Small birds, bees and butterflies are attracted to the flowers, helping in pollination. Hence they are considered to be good plants for butterfly parks or wildlife sanctuaries.
Gold vine plants needs good sunlight for blooming, but they are drought-tolerant and need very little water or maintenance once they are established in soil. They grow well in warm, tropical weather and well-drained soil. These plants can be pruned well to maintain desired shapes and for them to spread well on garden structures or walls.
Propagation is through stem cuttings and seeds.
