Cryptostegia Grandiflora

This woody, perennial climbing vine, which is native to south-west Madagascar has attractive, quilled pinkish purple flowers. It is one of the fastest growing plants in the world, sometimes in the tropics extending by as much as five metres in a month. In the tropics, flowering usually occurs after the wet season ends, along with fruit set. Its sap, or latex, when treated contains commercial quality rubber. It is now naturalised in the Caribbean, East Africa, Mauritius, India, south east Asia, Indonesia, Latin America, the southern United States, Fiji and New Caledonia.