Senecio mikanioides Walp. =Delairea odorata Asteraceae (Sunflower Family) South Africa German Ivy Cape Ivy

                                              February Photo

Plant Characteristics:  Glabrous perennial with slender twining stems to 6 m. long; lvs. roundish-cordate, sharply 5-7 angled, 2-8 cm. long, ca. as wide; petiole as long or longer; infl. heads discoid 20-40; pedunculate, axillary toward the summit of the stems; invol. 3-4 mm. long; principal phyllaries ca. 8, 3-4 mm., green tipped; rays 0; disk fls. less than 40, yellow; aks. glabrous.

Habitat:  Shady, +/- disturbed places below 200 m.  along coast of s. Calif. and cent. Calif.  Escape from cultivation. Dec.-March.

Name:  Latin, senex, old man, because of the white pappus.    Mikanioides, Mikania-like.  (Bailey 18).  Mikania is an American herbaceous or shrubby climber, of about 150 species.  (Bailey 1023).  Mikania was named for Joseph Gottfried Mikan, 1713-1814, professor at Prague.  (Bailey 1023).   Latin, odoratus, sweet-smelling, fragrant. ( Jaeger 171).  I can find no information on the origin of the genus name Delairea. (my comment).  The genus name Delairea is apparently replacing Senecio according to the below referenced article.  The only species in the genus.  (Sigg, Jacob “Triple Threat From South Africa”  FREMONTIA, A Journal of the California Native Plant Society Vol. 31 No. 4 October 2003 pp. 21-28).  

General:  Rare in the study area, found only in one large colony on the bluff side between Mariners Dr. and North Star beach.  (my comment)       Senecio is among the largest genera of flowering plants.  Invasive plant (Hickman, Ed. 336,340).       Evergreen in mildest areas, deciduous elsewhere.  Twines to 18-20 ft.   (Sunset Editors, New Western Garden Book 1984  p.465).        Several South African plants pose a threat to the biodiversity of the California coast.  Three are particularly noxious, Cape Ivy, Delairea odorata; ehrharta, Ehrharta erecta; and yellow oxalis, Oxalis pes-caprae.  Without tendrils or aerial rootlets to help it climb, Cape Ivy is very successful in climbing to the tops of large shrubs and trees.  When it has no support from its host for a climbing ladder it will twine several stems together to move upward, ultimately covering its host plant and killing it.  With a solid mat of Cape Ivy on the ground, trees and shrubs are unable to reproduce from seed, to be replaced by a biological wasteland of only Delairea.  Called the kudzu of the west, because it covers other vegetation with thick growth, cutting off light and air, Delairea odorata, has been in California for a long time; there is a UC Berkeley herbarium sample dated 1892.  During its tenure in California, Cape Ivy has spread along the coast with infestations developing much faster than they can be controlled.   Plants spread both sexually through seed and vegetatively from rooting stems and its growing habits make it difficult to control by chemical or mechanical means.  Listed as an A-1 wild land weed on the California Exotic Pest Plant Council ranking of Invasive Plants of Greatest Ecological Concern in California.  Biocontrol seems the most likely solution to this weed and it will be necessary to research how well predatory insects have controlled Cape Ivy in its native South Africa where it is an uncommon plant.  (Sigg, Jacob “Triple Threat From South Africa”  FREMONTIA, A Journal of the California Native Plant Society Vol. 31 No. 4 October 2003 pp. 21-28).  

Text Ref:  Bailey 1019; Hickman Ed. 340; Munz, Flora So. Calif. 226; Sunset Editors, New Western Garden Book, 1984. 465.

Photo Ref: Feb 99 # 2A,4A,5A.

Identity: by R. De Ruff, confirmed by John Johnson.

First Found: February 1999.

Computer Ref: Plant Data 511.

Have plant specimen.

Last edit 5/31/04.

                                            February Photo