Common name - Gampalu
Botanical name - Mikania cordata
Family - Asteraceae
Life cycle - Perennial
Morphology
- A fast growing, creeping or twining, perennial vine
- Stems branched, pubescent to glabrous, ribbed, from 3 to 6 m long
- Leaves opposite, cordate or triangular-ovate, blade 3 to 12 cm long, 2 to 6 cm wide, on a slender petiole 1 to 8 cm long, base broadly cordate, tip acuminate, margins crenate, dentate, or entire, surfaces nearly glabrous, baseflowers in small heads in open, nearly flat-topped (corymbose) panicles; four-flowered; involucral bracts four, obtuse or acute, corolla white or yellowish white, about 5 mm long
- Fruit; an achene, linear-oblong, 2 to 3 mm long, five angled, blackish brown, glandular
Propagation
- By seed
Agricultural usage/ importance
- The plant is used as a cover crop to prevent erosion
- The leaves are used in some places as a soup vegetable
Control method
- Control measures are using Puccinia spegazzinii fungus and Liothrips mikaniae insects to feed on them
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