How to Grow and Care for Stephania

Tape-vine (Stephania japonica) is a climber native to India, China, Southeast Asia, Australia, and the Pacific islands. Its habitat is rainforest, sheltered gullies, and coastal scrub. The berries are eaten by birds, and even fish wait under branches for the berries to fall into the water. The larvae of various moths feed on the vine.

You can tell long stephania apart from other species in the genus by the shape of its leaves; other Stephanias produce neatly rounded leaves, while long stephania's leaves are more pointed. The plant, which likes to climb, will produce bright-red clusters of berries. Be careful as some plants in this genus are toxic, and little is known about the toxicity of this particular species.

Cephalanthium stephania is an East and Southeast Asian flowering vine that can be identified by its rounded leaves and thick tuberous base. The scientific name Stephania honors the prominent Austrian botanist Stephan Ladislaus Endlicher (1804-1849.) It is occasionally grown ornamentally, preferring rich soils.

Stephania erecta has a most distinctive appearance with clusters of round leaves rising on stalks above a peculiar ball-shaped stem. It can be grown in containers or as a climbing vine on trellises and screens. This native of Asian limestone forests isn’t frost-tolerant and so must be grown indoors in temperate climates.