Senecio angulatus, also known as creeping groundsel and sometimes as Cape ivy, is a perennial, climbing, succulent plant from the family Asteraceae of the genus Senecio that is native to South Africa. It is a scrambling and a twining herb, whose form is a dense tangled shrub tall or a climber to high, if suitable support is available. Senecio angulatus can become an aggressive weed once established, where it would smother the existing native vegetation both in the ground layer and canopy, thus altering the light climate in the invaded community and sometimes suppress the regeneration of native plants. It is an invasive species in New Zealand and Victoria, Australia. It is naturalized in parts of South Italy, France, Portugal and some coastal areas in southeastern Australia. Despite its invasive nature, Senecio angulatus is grown as an ornamental plant for its satiny foliage and sweet-scented flowers. Senecio angulatus can be distinguished vegetatively from Senecio mikanioides by the lack of lobes at the leaf stalk base, the fleshy leaf surface and the outwardly curved leaf teeth. Senecio tamoides has been misapplied in Australia and is currently considered to be Senecio angulatus.
Description
Leaves and stems
The leaves are to long and to wide and occur in 1-4 pairs. They are thick, glossy, fleshy and coarsely toothed, with one to three teeth each side and bluntly lobed, with upper leaves becoming smaller with fewer teeth or none at all. They have a frosted look from a powdery coating on the lower side. Leaf stalks are to long. The leaves have stalks or stems which embrace the larger leaf surface which is not lobed, oval to triangularly shaped or very blunt to pointed at the tips and blunt to flat at the base. The leaves have a frosted look from a powdery coating on the lower side. The stems are succulent, pale green, and are often variegated with pale yellow green and purple. They are slightly angular and usually sparingly branched. Neither stems nor leaves are hairy.
Inflorescence
Senecio angulatus produces numerous flowers in open clusters at the end of its branches or stems. The strongly scented flowers are on an elongated stem that continue to open in succession from the base up as the stem continues to grow. The mass of clusters end more flat at the top than pyramid-like, and are to in diameter. Often the cluster droops with the flower heads at the end of the cluster turning upwards. Flower stalks are mostly hairless or with some short hairs, to long. Flower heads are attached to flower stalk by fine pointed 8-11 bracts to which are surrounded by 4-7 pale green and sometimes purple tinged at the base supplementary bracts, 1.5 millimetres to 2.5 millimetres which make a cup shape around the base of the involucre. Each stalk is capable of producing 10-15 disc florets. Flower-heads are radiate and urn-shaped. Ray florets are nearly always absent. When they occur, there is a yellow ligule. The corolla has a yellow disc surrounded by 4–6 dull golden yellow disc florets to long with hairless tubes, a slight expansion below the middle and lobes 1.3 millimetres to 2 millimetres wide. S. angulatus flower heads have rays that make it more daisy-like unlike S. mikanioides which doesn't. It flowers from April to May in Southern Africa and May to July in Australia and New Zealand.
Fruits and reproduction
Creeping groundsel is easily dispersed by wind-blown seed, stem fragments, and dumped garden waste. Achenes are 3 millimetres to 4 millimetres long, ribbed or grooved with short hairs in the grooves and a tapering cylindrical shape. The parachute-like hairs, the pappus, are 5 millimetres to 7 millimetres long.
Cultivation
The plant is predominantly cultivated in North Africa, the Mediterranean Basin and West Asia. In Queensland, climbing groundsel may have increased in popularity following the Boer War, as there were anecdotal accounts that it was introduced from South Africa by the soldiers who returned to Australia after 1902. Moreover, it was displayed in garden pillars in Brisbane newspapers between 1906-1910, praising the plant for the beauty of both its foliage and its yellow clusters of blooms. The plant grows in USDA hardiness zones 9a through 11b and is medium to fast-growing. Very drought tolerant, it would flourish better with some water in the summer and would bloom more often in full sun. It can grow indoors as a houseplant, provided it gets some sunlight. Pruning is necessary as the plant can become limp when it gets taller. Pests include aphids. Propagation can be done by cuttings, and this is to be conducted between spring and fall. Seeds prefer consistent moisture and warm temperatures to germinate. Annual fertilisation is necessary, though not mandatory.
Distribution
Creeping groundsel prefers soils of black calcareous and grey sand, sandy clay and limestone. It finds homes with these soils in coastal areas on cliff faces, mudflats, wet depressions in dunes, near swamps, in landfills, scrubland and near settlements, especially near the sea. Native: Current Sources: GRIN, ALUKA, FBAF, NSWF, NZPND, BGB
