Senecio angulatus L.f.
Cape ivy
Glabrous, scandent, perennial herb, sometimes forming a dense tangled shrub up to 2 m tall. Stems usually sparingly branched. Lvs petiolate; petiole ± = lamina, not amplexicaul; lamina not lobed, ovate to deltoid, obtuse to acute, mucronate, obtuse to truncate at base, coarsely toothed with 1-3, convex-sided teeth on each side and lowermost teeth often distinctly larger, c. 30-60 × 25-50 mm; venation palmate-pinnate. Uppermost lvs becoming smaller, narrower, with fewer teeth or entire. Capitula in open, terminal panicles. Supplementary bracts 4-7, linear to subulate, 1.5-2.5 mm long. Involucral bracts 8-11, oblong, 5-6 mm long. Ray florets (4)-5; ligules yellow, 6-11 mm long. Disc yellow. Achenes terete, with hairs on ribs, c. 4 mm long; pappus 5-7 mm long.
N.: established locally in coastal areas throughout; S.: established locally in Nelson City, Wairau Bar (Marlborough), and on Banks Peninsula.
South Africa 1940
Waste places and scrubland, especially near the sea.
FL Mar-Aug.
Cape ivy can become an aggressive weed once established. It is distinguished vegetatively from S. mikanioides by the lack of auricles at the petiole base, the fleshy lf lamina, the convex-sided lf teeth and the rayed capitula.
