From Invasive to Useful

I went for a walk in a nearby park yesterday and I noticed many of the trees were wrapped up in strangling dog vine, an aggressive and invasive weed. As far as I know this weed is not native and has recently been introduced (gee thanks) to this area.

It's quite an easy plant to spot. It's thin, vine-like stalk will be seen strangling every living thing in sight, clinging noxiously to tender, native trees and shrubs as well as fences and other immobile objects. If you're still not sure it's dog vine try pulling it out. If it cuts into your palm as you strain and struggle, totally ineffectually, to remove the damn thing then it's definitely dog vine. Or you could just verify it here.

It will have menacing, pointy pods on the vine which do contain a fluffy seed that is very useful for starting fires if you are in need at certain times of the year. The one other thing this plant is good for is making cordage (that's rope or twine in survival-speak). I tested it out after collecting a bit on my walk and it made a nice strong twine even though I spun it quite thin. The photo shows the result. Since it is a member of the milkweed family this would make sense as other milkweeds make great cordage.

Considering how prolific and aggressive this unwanted invader is it therefore makes the perfect plant to harvest in large quantities while maintaining a clear conscience. If you haven't tried it yet, making cordage is easy, fun and it gives one the feeling of accomplishment, even if you never use your cord for anything although it does make a great emergency shoelace replacement. I certainly wouldn't use it for climbing or hanging yourself though, unless you have a death wish or just want some attention in the former and later case respectively.

Learning to make cordage is best done when someone else teaches you directly but there is an article here that might be helpful. I do think it's my responsibility to warn you that once you learn how to make cordage it is highly addictive.