SENECIO TAMOIDES
Common Names:- Canary creeper, Cape ivy, parlor ivy.
Homotypic Synonyms:- None
Meaning:- Senecio (L) Old-man, a name used by the Roman naturalist and
philosopher Pliny, reference to the grey hairiness as soon as fruiting starts.
Tamoides (L) Resembing Tamus.
General description:- Scrambling glabrous perennial.
Stems:-
1) up to 2 m long, slender.
Leaves:-
1) ± 4-7 cm long and wide, margins ± palmately lobed or coarsely toothed, glabrous,
± fleshy. venation palmate.
2) Petiole, 20-50 mm long.
Flowers:-
1) Inflorescence, many-headed. corymbose. heads cylindrical, c. 3 mm diam.
2) Involucral bracts, 5-7, 6-7 mm long.
3) Bracteoles, 2-4.
4) Ray florets, 3-6.
5) Ligules, c. 10 mm long.
5) Disc florets, 10-12, 12-15 mm long.
Fruit:-
1) Achenes,. c. 2 mm long. glabrous.
2) Pappus, 6-7 mm long.
Habitat:- Moist gullies where it scrambles up on shrubs and climbs into trees,
twining from the shady forest floor to reach the sunlit tree-tops where it can then
flower.
Distribution:- The native range of this species is S. Tropical & S. Africa. Invasive
in many parts of the Southern hemisphere including Australia.
Previously recorded from the island of Amorgos (Egiali, road margins and ruderal
places in village, 10 m). Previously unrecorded from Crete, discovered by
Christopher Cheiladakis, near Mousoures, west Crete. Dec 2022. Although there is
now no doubt as to the existence of this plant in the Mediterranean, it's mode of
arrival should be carefully considered.
Flowering time:- March to July
Photos by:- Christopher Cheiladakis