SENECIO VULGARIS

Family and Genus:- See- COMPOSITAE/Sect. SENECIO

Common Names:- Groundsel

Homotypic Synonyms:- Jacobaea vulgaris

Meaning:- Senecio (L) Old-man, a name used by the Roman naturalist and

philosopher Pliny, reference to the grey hairiness as soon as fruiting starts.

Vulgaris (L) Vulgar, common.

General description:- Slender, erect, subglabrous annual.

Stems:-

1) 10-40 cm tall.

Leaves:-

1) Oblanceolate to oblong in outline, pinnatifid, with ovate-oblong, denticulate

segments.

Flowers:-

1) Capitula, numerous, 4-5 mm diam subsessile, in dense, subcorymbose clusters

at anthesis.

2) Peduncles elongating in fruit.

3) Involucre, cylindrical.

4) Bracts, 5-8 mm, usually glabrous and often black-tipped.

5) Supplementary bracts, 8-10, 1-2 mm, usually black-tipped, sometimes blackish

throughout.

6) Ligules, usually absent, sometimes 6-12, yellow, short, revolute immediately

after anthesis.

Fruit:-

1) Achenes, 1.5-2.5 mm, appressed-pubescent between ribs.

2) Pappus, 5-7 mm, white.

Key features:-

1) Supplementary bracts, 8-10.

2) Cauline leaves, usually longer than wide.

3) Eglandular.

Click here for a glossary of terms used.

Habitat:- Fields, olive groves, roadsides and wasteground 0-1900 m.

Distribution:- Widespread and common throughout the Mediterranean.

Widespread and common on Crete.

Flowering time:- Mar-June and sporadically at other times.

Photos by:- Steve Lenton