It has also been introduced to most other tropical and subtropical regions by man, because of its attractive flowers and the fact that its latex contains commercial quality rubber (hence the name).

It is now naturalised in the Caribbean, East Africa, Mauritius, India, Southeast Asia, Indonesia, Latin America, the southern United States, Fiji and New Caledonia.

[3] The primary and initial dispersal dynamic is gravity, with the vast majority of seeds falling and germinating within metres of the parent vine.

Early rains prior to full flood episodes, typically result in germination, thus anchoring seedling against subsequent water flows.

For this reason, rubber vine thrives on (and requires) the extreme variability of rainfall and streamflow characteristic of central Queensland.

Rubber vine is believed to have a potential range in Australia from about Coen in Cape York Peninsula to Port Hedland in the Pilbara.

It is a major threat to gallery forests along rivers in northern Australia, because it can strangle and kill the native trees by climbing over them and eliminating access to light.