Originally used as an ornamental plant on trellises and as groundcover, it is now rarely cultivated because of its invasiveness, in addition to being a weed.

[10] Its sweet-scented[11] discoid flowers are yellow, and lack the petal-like ray florets found in typical daisies.

They have tiny tubular florets surrounded by an involucre of 8-10 small green phyllaries (3–5 millimetres (15⁄128–25⁄128 in) long).

However, the plant readily reproduce from stem fragments, stolons, or rhizomes as small as 2.5 centimetres (63⁄64 in).

[12] This plant is somewhat scarce in its native country of South Africa, where it was originally found in the Drakensberg Mountains, on forest edges, at elevations above 1,500 metres (4,900 ft), in moist areas.

[19] D. odorata is the host of the ascomycete leaf spot fungus Cercospora delaireae, a species nova first described in 2013.

[20] Another organism from D. odorata's native range, the acrolepiid moth Digitivalva delaireae, can also be used as a biocontrol for D.

[21] Because it avoids any vulnerable native plants in California and Oregon it is a good choice specifically to control the infestations there.

[21] A report originating in California has claimed that, after walking through a thicket of Cape ivy in full bloom at his ranch, a man became lightheaded, fainted and had a seizure.

[5] Germany ivy is grown as a vine or groundcover, where it can vigorously climb up posts, hedges, trees and shrubs, fences, banks, and walls.

The plant flourishes in moister winter months and particularly after rainfalls where it displays bright green foliage.

Furthermore, 1856 and 1864 columns in the Sydney Morning Herald mention a Cape Ivy observed on the dunes at Newcastle, New South Wales and Gulaga.