Senecio mikanioides Walp.
German ivy
Glabrous, scrambling or scandent herb. Stems branched or not, up to 3 m or more long. Lvs petiolate; petiole ± = lamina, usually with small auricles, 2-13 mm diam. at base, sometimes auricles 0. Lamina not lobed, ovate, deltoid or ± orbicular, acute, usually cordate at base, sometimes truncate, coarsely toothed with 2-5-(6), flat or concave-sided teeth on each side, 25-100 × 20-100 mm; venation palmate. Uppermost lvs becoming smaller. Capitula in dense terminal or axillary panicles. Supplementary bracts 2-4, linear, 1.5-3 mm long. Involucral bracts 8-9, oblong, 3-4 mm long. Ray florets 0. Disc yellow, 5-7 mm diam. Achenes terete, glabrous or with scattered hairs on ribs, 2-2.5 mm long; pappus 4-5 mm long.
N.; S.: established locally throughout; St.: Halfmoon Bay.
South Africa 1870
Waste places, scrubland, forest margins, especially in coastal areas.
FL (Mar)-May-Oct.
Poisonous (Connor 1977).
German ivy is similar to S. angulatus in being a scrambling fleshy-leaved plant of coastal sites, but is distinguished by the presence of auricles at most petiole bases, the membranous lf lamina, the concave-sided lf teeth, and the rayless capitula. The sp. has been previously recorded in N.Z. as S. scandens.
Jeffrey, C., Halliday, P., Wilmot-Dear, M. and Jones, S. W., Kew Bull. 32 : 47-67 (1977), placed S. mikanioides, but not S. angulatus, in a small group of E. Asian, Indian and tropical African spp. mostly with a climbing habit. These may be treated as the segregate genus Delairia Lemaire of which S. mikanioides is the type sp. and in which it is treated as D. odorata Lemaire. A more detailed treatment of all the senecioid senecios is required before this suggestion can be followed.
