Common Name:

General Information

Mikania cordata is a very vigorous, climbing, perennial plant scrambling over the ground or twining into and over the surrounding vegetation[].
The plant is sometimes harvested from the wild for local use, mainly as a medicine but also for its edible leaves. The plant is sometimes used to prevent soil erosion.

Known Hazards

None known

Botanical References

Range

E. Africa; tropical E. Asia to New Guinea and the Solomon Islands.

Habitat

Commonly found in young secondary jungle, forest clearings, abandoned ground, secondary regrowth areas, ravines, mountain slopes, roadsides, watercourses, fallow lands, low-lying areas along streams and rivers and open plantations[].

Properties

Weed Potential	Yes
Edibility Rating
Medicinal Rating
Other Uses Rating
Habit	Perennial Climber
Height	0.00 m
Growth Rate	Fast
Cultivation Status	Wild

Cultivation Details

A plant of the moist tropics, where it is found at elevations up to 2,000 metres. It grows best in areas where annual daytime temperatures are within the range 22 - 28°c, but can tolerate 13 - 38°c[]. It prefers a mean annual rainfall in the range 2,000 - 2,500mm, but tolerates 1,500 - 3,500mm[].
Grows best in full sun but tolerates light shade[]. Succeeds in a range of soils of moderate fertility[]. Prefers a rich, damp soil[]. Prefers a pH in the range 4.5 - 5.5, tolerating 4 - 7[].
The plant can become a devastating weed in crops of tea, coconut, rubber, oil palm, coffee, bananas and sugar cane, and can smother leguminous cover crops[]. It has been reported from Malaysia that the plant contains phenolic or flavonoid substances that inhibit the growth of rubber, tomato and tropical kudzu (Pueraria phaseoloides (Roxb.) Benth.), and also depress nitrification in soils[]. It requires an open sunny position, however, and although it may even be found under closed canopies of 4 - 5 year-old rubber and oil palm, it is markedly etiolated with little vigour and is rarely found in 5 - 15 year-old plantations[]. Plants can flower all year round and large amounts of seed are transported by the wind or by adhering to human clothing or the hair of animals[, ].
The flowers are strongly fragrant[].

Edible Uses

Leaves - cooked and eaten in soups[].

Medicinal

A decoction of the leaves is used in the treatment of coughs[].
The leaves are used as a poultice for swellings, itches and wounds[, ]. They are used as a cure for snake and scorpion bites[, ]. The leaf juice is used as a remedy for sore eyes[].

An infusion of plant is used in the treatment of affections of the stomach and intestines, including gastric ulcers[].

The root is adaptogenic, anti-inflammatory and hepatoprotective[].

Agroforestry Uses:

The plant has been used as a cover crop to prevent soil erosion[].

Other Uses

None known

Propagation

Seed -

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