Scrambling subsucculent herb, ‘very high’; stems glabrous.. Leaves petiolate; blade triangular-subhastate or narrowly so or saggitate, 2.2–9 cm long, 1.3–6.2 cm wide, base weakly cordate or subtruncate and shortly decurrent onto the petiole, margins remotely sinuate-paucidentate in lower half, apex ± attenuate, acute and apiculate, glabrous; petiole slender, glabrous, exauriculate, 0.8–5.5 cm long.. Capitula discoid, numerous in terminal loose thyrses of stalked congested subumbelliform corymbs; stalks of the individual capitula short, shortly sparsely pubescent; involucre cylindrical, 7–10 mm long, 2–4 mm in diameter; bracts of calyculus 2–4, lax, glabrous or with a few marginal hairs, 1.5–3 mm long; phyllaries 8, green, glabrous, 6.5–10 mm long.. Ray florets absent; disc florets pale yellow, corolla 6–8.5 mm long, tube glabrous, slightly expanded from above the middle, lobes 1.2–1.5 mm long.. Achenes 3 mm long, ribbed, glabrous; pappus 6–8 mm long.
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A climbing herb. It twines clockwise. It usually branches 50 cm above the ground producing bushy growth. The leaves are succulent. They have long leaf stalks and teeth along the edge. They are almost triangle shaped. They are 5-8 cm long by 3-5 cm wide. They can be larger. The young leaves stick up and the older leaves hang down. The flowers are creamy white and at the ends of the shoots. They are in rounded clusters. The fruits are dry. There are improved cultivated varieties.
A tropical plant. It grows well in light shade. It cannot tolerate drought. It can grow in arid places. It grows in secondary jungle in West Africa. It grows in areas with an annual rainfall of 1,500 mm. It grows from sea level to 1,300 m above sea level. It needs shade.
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An understorey climber in the rainforest, especially in secondary jungle, roadsides, waste places and disturbed land of hilly country.
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