Dipogon
About Dipogon - mile-a-minute vine
Dipogon lignosus, Cape sweet-pea, okie bean, or mile-a-minute vine, is a flowering plant in the legume family. Originally from South Africa, it is a vigorous, twining perennial herb with stems up to 3 m long. The pea flowers are pink-purple or occasionally white up to 1.5 cm long. The pods are up to 5 cm long and 1 cm wide with 3-6 seeds. It is a garden escapee in coastal areas where it rapidly smothers low growing shrubs and regenerating native forest canopy, and eventually takes over completely, shading out the plants underneath. It tolerates drought or damp conditions, wind, salt, poor soils, and damage, but not shade. It increases nitrogen in the soil and may change the species that can grow there to high-fertility weeds, to the detriment of specialised plants such as orchids and ferns.
How it escapes
Dipogon seeds are spread by birds when the plant is used as nesting material, and seed can also be carried by water. Seeds drop and sprout near parent plants, but mostly it is spread in dumped vegetation or soil and also by water.
How to keep it in your garden
Dipogon is a plant you should probably leave out of your garden plans.
Hand pull small plants (all year round). Dispose of at a refuse transfer station or burn. Stumps re-sprout very quickly, cut stems root at nodes. Check at least 6-monthly for seedlings. Plant dense shading non-invasive species immediately after removing Dipogon if possible.