Skip to main content

Bitter vine (Mikania micrantha)

Dlium Bitter vine (Mikania micrantha)

Sembung rambat or bitter vine (Mikania micrantha) is a plant species in Asteraceae, crawling or wrapped around trees, perennial that grows up to 27 mm per day in tropical climates, branched stems where heart-shaped or triangular leaves are arranged in pairs and a plant can cover more than 25 square meters in a few months.

M. micrantha has square-shaped stems or longitudinal bones, light green, many branches and has fine hairs. The stems have segments for lengths of 75-215 mm, each segment has a pair of leaves, new shoots and flowers. New roots grow when the segments come in contact with the soil.



The leaves are in pairs and facing each other. Strands do not have hair, heart-shaped or triangular with jagged edges, length 30-125 mm, width 15-60 mm. Petiole is 1-6 cm long and has fine hairs.

The flower panicle grows from the armpit of the leaf and the tip of the stem, having 3-15 mm long stems. Each flower head has 4 minor flowers. The crown is greenish-white, tubular and measures 4-6.5 mm. Black anthers grayish with white.

Formation of seeds begins 17-21 days after flowering, brown to black, linear-oval, five angles, 2 mm long and equipped with 32-38 soft white feathers to fly long distances in the wind or stick to animal hair.

TAXON

Kingdom: Plantae
Phylum: Tracheophyta
Subphylum: Angiospermae
Class: Magnoliopsida
Order: Asterales
Family: Asteraceae
Subfamily: Asteroideae
Tribe: Eupatorieae
Subtribe: Mikaniinae
Genus: Mikania Willd. in Sp. Pl., ed. 4. 3: 1481, 1742 (1803)
Species: Mikania micrantha Kunth in F.W.H.von Humboldt, A.J.A.Bonpland & C.S.Kunth, Nov. Gen. Sp., ed. fol., 4: 105 (1818)

HOMOTYPIC SYNONYMS

Willoughbya micrantha (Kunth) Rusby in Mem. Torrey Bot. Club 4: 211 (1895)

HETEROTYPIC SYNONYMS

Eupatorium denticulatum Vahl in Symb. Bot. 3: 93 (1794)
Eupatorium orinocense (Kunth) M.Gómez in Dicc. Bot. Nom. Vulg. Cub. Puerto-Riquenos: 55 (1889)
Eupatorium orinocense var. batatifolium M.Gómez in Anales Soc. Esp. Hist. Nat. 19: 269 (1890)
Eupatorium orinocense var. tamoides M.Gómez (1890)
Mikania cordata var. indica Kitam. in Fl. E. Himalaya: 241 (1966)
Mikania deltoides Poepp. ex Spreng. in Syst. Veg., ed. 16. 3: 423 (1826)
Mikania denticulata (Vahl) Willd. in Sp. Pl., ed. 4. 3: 1744 (1803)
Mikania glechomifolia Sch.Bip. ex Baker in C.F.P.von Martius & auct. suc. (eds.), Fl. Bras. 6(2): 249 (1876)
Mikania micrantha var. cynanchifolia B.L.Rob. in Contr. Gray Herb. 64: 67 (1922)
Mikania micrantha f. hirsuta B.L.Rob. (1922)
Mikania micrantha f. typica B.L.Rob. (1922)
Mikania orinocensis Kunth in F.W.H.von Humboldt, A.J.A.Bonpland & C.S.Kunth, Nov. Gen. Sp., ed. fol., 4: 105 (1818)
Mikania scandens var. hirsuta Hieron. in Bot. Jahrb. Syst. 19: 47 (1894)
Mikania scandens var. subcymosa (Gardner) Baker (1876)
Mikania scandens var. umbellifera (Gardner) Baker (1876)
Mikania scandens var. villosa Hieron. in Bot. Jahrb. Syst. 36: 473 (1905)
Mikania sinuata Rusby in Bull. New York Bot. Gard. 8: 127 (1912)
Mikania subcrenata Hook. & Arn. in Compan. Bot. Mag. 1: 243 (1836)
Mikania subcymosa Gardner in London J. Bot. 6: 448 (1847)
Mikania tamoides DC. in Prodr. 5: 197 (1836)
Mikania umbellifera Gardner in London J. Bot. 4: 119 (1845)
Mikania variabilis Meyen & Walp. in Nov. Actorum Acad. Caes. Leop.-Carol. Nat. Cur. 19(Suppl. 1): 257 (1843)
Willoughbya heterophylla Small in Fl. S.E. U.S.: 1170, 1338 (1903)
Willoughbya scandens var. orinocensis (Kunth) Kuntze in Revis. Gen. Pl. 1: 372 (1891)
Willoughbya variabilis (Meyen & Walp.) Kuntze (1891)

PUBLICATIONS

Barooah, C. & Ahmed, I. (2014). Plant diversity of Assam. A checklist of Angiosperms and Gymnosperms: 1-599. Assam science technology and environment council, India.

Kiew, R. & al. (eds.) (2021). Malayan Forest Records 49: 1-403.

Kitalong, A.H., DeMeo, R.A. & Holm, T. (2008). Native Trees Palau. A field guide: 1-236.

Koyama, H., Bunwong, S., Pornpongrungrueng, P. & Hind, D.J.N. (2016). Flora of Thailand 13(2): 143-428. The Forest Herbarium, Royal Forest Department.

Liogier, A.H. (1996). Flora de la Española 8: 1-588. Instituto Tecnológico de Santo Domingo.

Plunkett, G.M., Ranker, T.A., Sam, C. & Balick, M.J. (2022). Towards a checklist of the vascular flora of Vanuatu. Candollea 77: 105-118.

Prakash, L. & Balasubramanian, P. (2018). Invasive alien flora of Sathyamangalam Tiger Reserve in Southern Eastern Ghats, India. Indian Forester 144: 857-862.

Pruski, J.F. (ed.) (2018). Flora Mesoamericana 5(2): 1-608. Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, México, D.F.

Rajbhandari, K.R., Rai, S.K. & Chhetri, R. (2024). A Handbook of the Flowering Plants of Nepal 5: 1-432. Department of Plant Resources, Thapathali, Kathmandu, Nepal.

Roskov Y. & al. (eds.) (2018). Species 2000 & ITIS Catalogue of Life Naturalis, Leiden, the Netherlands.

Turner, I.M. (1995). A catalogue of the Vascular Plants of Malaya. Gardens' Bulletin Singapore 47(1): 1-346.

Whistler, A. (2018). Flora of Tokelau: 1-126. Isle Botanica, Honolulu.

Whistler, W.A. (2022). Flora of Samoa Flowering Plants: 1-930. National Tropical Botanicl Garden. Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History.

VERNACULAR NAME

Ambon: Hila Hitu Lama
Assamese: Japani-lota
Dayak: Akar Bulou
English: Bitter vine, Mile-a-minute
Indonesian: Sembung Rambat
Java: Brojo Lego
Manipuri: Uri hingchabi
Minang: Blukar
Mizo: Japanhlo
Nepali: Lahare Banamaaraa
South Tapanuli: Siroppaspara
Sunda: Caputuheun

Aryo Bandoro
Dlium TheDlium
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@Dlium
Labels:

Popular Posts

Señorita banana (Musa acuminata AA Group 'Señorita')

Cavendish banana (Musa acuminata) Red banana (Musa acuminata AAA Group 'Red Dacca' Saba banana (Musa acuminata ABB Group 'Saba') Pisang mas or señorita banana ( Musa acuminata AA Group 'Señorita') is a cultivar in Musaceae, a banana with a cylindrical shape and bright yellow skin when ripe, one of the banana cultivars with the shortest fruit and has small seeds or no seeds. M. acuminata (AA Group) 'Señorita' emerged from a completely buried tuber. Stem formed as a pseudostem with heaps of leaf sheaths and succulent, soft, up to 2.5 m high, 42 cm girth at 1 m high. The pseudo stem is green and shiny with a pink-purple base color. The leaf blade is elongated, waxy with a stalk that is sometimes bordered from pink-purple to red, 120 cm long, 45 cm wide and impermeable. The inflorescences hang vertically with red-purple bracts which are yellow or green on the inner surface. Yellow male flowers. The plants start to flower about 231 days after planting....
Read more

Breng (Coldenia breng)

Breng ( Coldenia breng ) is a species of plant in the Boraginaceae family. It is a herbaceous plant that grows along the ground, with radial, cylindrical stems, red, multi-branched, alternate, and white-haired. C. breng has alternate leaves along the stem, oval to nearly round, up to 2.5 cm long, up to 1.5 cm wide, and white-haired. This plant grows in floodplains, seasonally inundated riverbanks, and drying rice fields. It thrives in sandy or silty soils and is drought-tolerant. TAXON Kingdom: Plantae Phylum: Tracheophyta Subphylum: Angiospermae Class: Magnoliopsida Order: Boraginales Family: Boraginaceae Subfamily: Cordioideae Genus: Coldenia L. in Sp. Pl.: 125 (1753) Species: Coldenia breng Aryo Bandoro Dlium TheDlium YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@Dlium
Read more

Awar awar (Ficus septica)

Awar-awar or lagnob or hauli tree or barabar or sirih popar or tobo tobo ( Ficus septica ) is species of plants in Moraceae, trees grow in bushes or in neglected places and sap contained in roots, twigs, leaves and fruit is used to treat poisoning and digestive problems. F. septica is usually 1-5 m high, although in the forest it can be up to 25 m. Round, hollow and bare branches. Roots, twigs, leaves and fruit will emit a yellow sap and sticky if injured. The base of the leaves is large and spiky, arranged alternately or face to face with a stem length of 2.5-5 cm. Large leaf blade, round egg, 9-30x9-16 cm, rounded base and blunt narrow tip, flat-edged, upper side dark green with 6-12 secondary bones pale white. Fruit paired, single or clustered up to 4 items, short-stemmed, at the base has 3 protective leaves, light green or gray green and 1.5 cm in diameter. F. septica is food for 22 animal species including wasps, bats, birds, monkeys and mice as well as seed dispersing vecto...
Read more