Mikania violascens

Mikania is a genus of about 450 species of plants in the tribe Eupatorieae within the family Asteraceae. The name honors the Czech botanist Johann Christian Mikan, 1743–1814. Members of the genus are stem twiners and lianas and are common in the neotropical flora. Mikania originates from South America. A few species, such as Mikania scandens, are found in temperate areas of North and South America, and nine species are known from the Old World tropics. As with other plants in the tribe Eupatorieae, the flowers have disc florets and no ray florets. The species Mikania laevigata and Mikania glomerata, also known as guaco, are popular in herbal medicine. Mikania micrantha is a widespread weed in the tropics. It grows very quickly (as fast as 80 mm in 24 hours for a young plant) and covers other plants. People have looked into controlling it with herbicides, parasitic plants, fungi and insects.