South Africa
Senecio angulatus is a succulent flowering plant in the family Asteraceae that is native to South Africa. Cape ivy is a scrambling, vining herbaceous herb that can become an aggressive weed once established. It is grown as an ornamental plant for its satiny foliage and sweet-scented flowers.
Senecio angulatus is a glabrous, scandent, perennial herb, sometimes forming a dense tangled shrub up to 2 m tall. Stems usually sparingly branched. Leaves petiolate; 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 leaves 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, ca. 4 mm long; pappus 5-7 mm long (Flora of New Zealand, 2004).
Senecio angulatus has been intentionally introduced as ornamental. In Europe, it was probably introduced in the 15th century. In Australia, it first appears in cultivation between 1906 and 1910 and was collected as a weed in Melbourne in 1936 (GISD, 2023; Weeds of Melbourne, 2023). In New Zealand, it was introduced in 1940 (Flora of New Zealand, 2004). In the United States, S. angulatus was probably introduced after 1930, but there is no evidence that it has become naturalized outside of cultivation (USDA-APHIS, 2013).
