Native vines can be really confronting when you come across them in natural settings: massive gnarly or snaky trunks as thick as your waist, stout ropy stems dangling precariously off trees that look unable to hold their weight, and a general air of excess that would be wildly out of place in a domestic garden setting.

But, ooooh, how utterly amazing they are, and what an essential element they are in the local rainforest plant communities that they call home.

One vine that has a particularly important place, and is also very dear to my heart, is the Giant Pepper Vine (or Piper hederaceum), which can ascend right to the top of the tallest rainforest trees, such as the giant strangler figs, and then send broad green curtains cascading down again, all the way to the ground.

It differs from many other local rainforest vines by retaining the leaves on many of its stems, so that it can entirely coat a tree's upper trunk and branches with green. 

The habitat value of Giant Pepper Vine is outstanding, and its abundant pretty red fruit are eaten by many birds, including the Green Catbird, Australasian Figbird, Satin Bowerbird, Brown Cuckoo-dove, White-headed Pigeon and Topknot Pigeon. How's that for a bird-friendly plant?

Might you have a place for this vine in your garden? Even if not, it can also be used as an indoor plant, where low light and a small pot will limit its growth to something much more manageable.