Mikania natalensis, the Natal Mikania, is a plant in the Asteraceae

Asteraceae

The Asteraceae or Compositae , is an exceedingly large and widespread family of vascular plants. The group has more than 22,750 currently accepted species, spread across 1620 genera and 12 subfamilies...

 family, and is native to Africa

Africa

Africa is the world's second largest and second most populous continent, after Asia. At about 30.2 million km² including adjacent islands, it covers 6% of the Earth's total surface area and 20.4% of the total land area...

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Distribution and habitat

It is found on forest

Forest

A forest, also referred to as a wood or the woods, is an area with a high density of trees. As with cities, depending where you are in the world, what is considered a forest may vary significantly in size and have various classification according to how and what of the forest is composed...

 margins from the Eastern Cape

Eastern Cape

The Eastern Cape is a province of South Africa. Its capital is Bhisho, but its two largest cities are Port Elizabeth and East London. It was formed in 1994 out of the "independent" Xhosa homelands of Transkei and Ciskei, together with the eastern portion of the Cape Province...

 of South Africa

South Africa

The Republic of South Africa is a country in southern Africa. Located at the southern tip of Africa, it is divided into nine provinces, with of coastline on the Atlantic and Indian oceans...

 to Tropical Africa

Tropical Africa

Although tropical Africa is most familiar in the West as depicted by its rain forests, this region of Africa is far more diverse. While the tropics are thought of as regions with warm to hot moist climates caused by latitude and the tropical rain belt, the geology of areas, particularly mountain...

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Description

Mikania natalensis is a herbaceous, vigorous perennial climber. The leaves are opposite and well spaced. The leaf stalk is up to 30 mm long. The leaf blade is about 80 mm by 40 mm, triangular, long-pointed, with pointed backward extensions. The leaf margin is widely (and irregularly) toothed. There are five veins in the leaf from the base. The leaves are velvety grey beneath, and thinly pubescent above. Flowers are 10 mm long, cream-coloured with purplish anthers and white corollas; in loosely branched inflorescences. The flowers are heavily scented and produced from April through September.

Mikania natalensis is superficially similar in appearance to Chromolaena odorata

Chromolaena odorata

Chromolaena odorata is a species of flowering shrub in the sunflower family, Asteraceae. It is native to North America, from Florida and Texas to Mexico and the Caribbean, and has been introduced to tropical Asia, west Africa, and parts of Australia. Common names include Siam Weed, Christmas Bush,...

, which is an alien invader species in the natural habitat of Mikania natalensis. The butterfly Actinote thalia was considered for the biological control of Chromolaena odorata in southern Africa, but permission to release this control agent was not sought because the larvae were found to consume the leaves of Mikania natalensis.

Human uses

Mikania natalensis is used in traditional Zulu and Swazi

Swazi

The Swazi are an Nguni-speaking people in southeastern Africa, chiefly in Swaziland and South Africa and some in Mozambique. Besides their language, Siswati, they speak Afrikaans in South Africa, English in South Africa and Swaziland, and Portuguese in Mozambique and South Africa as second...

medicine for urinary complaints, headaches, backache and colds.