| Common Name : | Mile a minute. |
| Binomial Name : | Mikania micrantha |
| Family : | Asteraceae |
| Bangla Name : | Japani lota. |
| Photo Taken : | Bangladesh |
This is an invasive weed plant known as Mile a minute. Binomial name of the plant is Mikania micrantha. This belongs to the plant family Asteraceae. There are several common names for this plant across the world, such as Bittervine, American rope, Mile a minute, Chinese creeper, etc. This is a very fast growing weed (around 80mm per 24 hours).
Mile a minute (Mikania micrantha) is a perennial fast growing vine that spreads by climbing and twining through the bushes, herbs, plants, or fences, walls, etc. Leafs are slightly triangular shaped with an acute tip. It produces small white flowers as a cluster with mild smell. Blooming starts during rainy season and keep producing till late autumn. This plant just kills all the surrounding plants around it by providing shading or smothering thoroughly. It propagates from dispersing the seeds through winds or from the roots. Irony is, no grazing animals even taste this plant, so it can grow without any interruption. Another thing, it cannot grow around the paddy fields for the rough edges of the paddy leafs.
Mile a minute (Mikania micrantha) is native to East Asia and Pacific region. For its fastest growing nature, during the World War II, this plant was first introduced in India. It used to camouflage the airfields. Since then this plant is widely available throughout the South Asian region, including Bangladesh. Possibly these are the reasons to call this as Japani lota in Bangladesh. (Alternate story, Japanese Soldiers dispersed the seeds from air intentionally to make this region a jungle).
Photos of Mile a minute (Mikania micrantha) were taken by my colleagues from Bandarban and Netrakona during November and December. In Bangladesh this is known as Japani lota (জাপানি লতা), Germani lota (জার্মানি লতা), etc.
This article has written by Lonely Traveler,
for the blog https://icflora.blogspot.com/
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