Plants of South Eastern New South Wales

Senecio biserratus

Flower heads. Photographer Russell Best, Wilsons Promontary, Vic

Flowering plant. Photographer Don Wood, Bournda National Park south of Tathra

Common name

Jagged Fireweed

Family

Asteraceae

Where found

Forest, woodland, shubland, grassland, and swampy areas. Widespread. No records from the Western Slopes.

Notes

Annual, sometimous rhizomatous perennial, herb to 1.6 m high. Stems more or less hairless, sometimes sparsely to moderately bristly near the base. Leaves alternating up the stems, 3–15 cm long, 25-50 mm wide, surfaces hairless or sparsely hairy or bristly; lower surface sometimes purple, margins toothed, sometimes with small teeth along the teeth, sometimes deeply lobed with 3–5 triangular or oblong projections per side, bases with well-developed auricles, upper leaves more or less stem-clasping. Flower heads 4.5-7.5 mm long, cylindrical, with 0 petals, surrounded by mostly 7–10 appressed green bracts. Florets 12–25, 1–2 mm longer than the flower head. Flower heads in many-flowered clusters, to 100s per stem. Flowering: spring–autumn.

PlantNET description:  http://plantnet.rbgsyd.nsw.gov.au/cgi-bin/NSWfl.pl?page=nswfl&lvl=sp&name=Senecio~biserratus (accessed 6 February, 2021)