Class
Order
Family
Genus
Classification
Nomenclature
Scientific Name:
Senecio australis Willd., Sp. Pl., ed. 4 [Willdenow] 3(3), 1981 (1803)
Description
Description of New Zealand specimens only. Erect to semi-erect, heavily branched and leafy, annual or short-lived perennial herb, (0.2−) 0.8–1.0 m tall, arising from a stout woody rootstock. Exposed portion of rootstock and stems frequently supporting adventitious roots. Stems green, maturing dark purple to purple–black, at first sparingly covered in fine arachnoid trichomes, becoming glabrous with age. Foliage dark green, glabrescent and fleshy. Cotyledons, ovate, 7–8 × 4–6 mm, dark green; lower leaves 55–75 × 25–30 mm, dark green, shortly petiolate, obovate to oblanceolate, entire, very rarely lobed 1–2×, apex obtuse; mid-cauline leaves 50–140 × 20–45 mm, dark green, gradually diminishing in size up the stem, at first petiolate or amplexicaul, if the former then with petioles up to 10–15 mm long, often sparingly covered in fine arachnoid trichomes; lamina ovate, obovate to elliptic, rarely rhomboidal, entire, coarsely dentate, or lobed 2–3×, leaf apices obtuse; uppermost leaves smaller, usually lanceolate to linear or linear–spathulate, lobulate or remotely, dentate, with obtuse apices. Inflorescences usually partially obscured within foliage; sparingly branched in a lax cyme of 3–8 capitula. Capitula urceolate. Peduncles terete, sparsely covered in white arachnoid trichomes; supplementary bracts 4–5, widely spaced, not or scarcely imbricate, 2.0–2.5 mm long, all linear–lanceolate, green with margins sparsely covered in arachnoid trichomes; calycular bracteoles 2–3, loosely subtending the involucre (never imbricate), 1.5–2.0 mm long, linear–lanceolate, apex maroon, crested with fine white, arachnoid trichomes. Involucral bracts (9−) 13 (−15), uniformly dark green, lanceolate, 5–6 mm long, shorter than ray and disc florets, thereby exposing a distinct band, 0.5–0.8 mm wide of pappus trichomes; bracts ± glabrous, sometimes with the margins sparsely invested in white, arachnoid trichomes, apex green (very rarely tinged maroon), crested with fine, white, arachnoid trichomes. Ray florets (0−) 9 (−12); ligules, ± involute or plane, dark sulfur-yellow, 1–5 mm × 1 mm; blunt-ended or with apex incised 3 times. Disc 4–5 mm diameter, disc florets, dark sulfur-yellow, (10−) 15 (−20). Cypselas narrowly elliptic to narrowly oblong–elliptic, slightly narrowed at apex, 2.5–2.8 × 0.3–0.5 mm; base cuneate; ribs 5–8, glabrous; grooves between ribs invested with 4–5 rows of short, white, somewhat flexuous retrorse trichomes; surface yellow–brown. Pappus caducous, scabridulous.
[Reproduced from de Lange et al. (2014, New Zealand J. Bot. 52: 417–428) with permission from The Royal Society of New Zealand.]
Biostatus
Indigenous (Non-endemic)
Bibliography
de Lange, P.J.; Gardner, R.O.; Sykes, W.R.; Crowcroft, G.M.; Cameron, E.K.; Stalker, F.; Christian, M.L.; Braggins, J.E. 2005: Vascular flora of Norfolk Island: some additions and taxonomic notes. New Zealand Journal of Botany 43(2): 563–596.
de Lange, P.J.; Norton, D.A.; Courtney, S.P.; Heenan, P.B.; Barkla, J.W.; Cameron, E.K.; Hitchmough, R.; Townsend, A.J. 2009: Threatened and uncommon plants of New Zealand (2008 revision). New Zealand Journal of Botany 47: 61–96. [Vagrant]
de Lange, P.J.; Rolfe, J.R.; Barkla J.W.; Courtney, S.P.; Champion, P.D.; Perrie, L.R.; Beadel, S.N.; Ford, K.A.; Breitwieser, I.; Schönberger, I.; Hindmarsh-Walls, R.; Heenan, P.B.; Ladley, K. 2018: Conservation status of New Zealand indigenous vascular plants, 2017. New Zealand Threat Classification Series. No. 22. [Vagrant]
de Lange, P.J.; Rolfe, J.R.; Champion, P.D.; Courtney, S.P.; Heenan, P.B.; Barkla, J.W.; Cameron, E.K.; Norton, D.A.; Hitchmough, R.A. 2013: Conservation status of New Zealand indigenous vascular plants, 2012. New Zealand Threat Classification Series 3. Department of Conservation, Wellington. [Vagrant]
de Lange, P.J.; Rolfe, J.R.; Liew, C.S.; Pelser, P.B. 2014: Senecio australis Willd. (Asteraceae: Senecioneae) – a new and uncommon addition to the indigenous vascular flora of New Zealand. New Zealand Journal of Botany 52(4): 428–417.
Willdenow, C.L. von 1803: Species Plantarum. Editio Quarta. Vol. 3(3). G.C. Nauk, Berlin.
