Mikania involucrata

Mikania involucrata is a scrambling perennial vine of the Asteraceae native to southern Brazil and neighbouring parts of subtropical South America, notably the grasslands and forest margins of Rio Grande do Sul. Like others in its genus it has slender, twining stems and opposite, ovate to triangular leaves with toothed or entire margins and a more or less cordate base. The small flower heads are grouped in dense corymbose clusters; each head contains only a few white to cream tubular florets surrounded by an involucre of bracts, a feature reflected in the epithet. The fruit is a small ribbed achene crowned with a pappus of fine bristles for wind dispersal. It grows in moist, sunny situations along fences, thickets, and disturbed open ground.