Plants of South Eastern New South Wales
Senecio elegans
Common name
Purple Groundsel
Family
Asteraceae
Where found
Shrubland, coastal environs, particularly dunes and swales, and rocky areas. Coast and ranges south of Bega.
Notes
Introduced annual herb to 1 m high or sprawling. Stems ribbed, hairless, or somewhat hairy on young growth. Leaves alternating up the stems, 3–20 cm long, 15–50 mm wide, margins deeply dissected or toothed, with 2–5 major segments per side; the segments typically widest near the tips and irregularly lobed or toothed; bases slightly to moderately auriculate, slightly stem-clasping, surfaces sparsely rough. Flower heads with 12–17 (rarely doubled) bright pink to rich purple, rarely white, ‘petals’ each 7–20 mm long, and yellow centres about 5–7 mm in diameter with 40 or more florets. Flower heads behind the 'petals' approximately cup-shaped, surrounded by 12–16 appressed green bracts. Flowers in few to many-flowered branched clusters usually with 1–6 flower heads per branch. Flowers Sep.–Jan.
PlantNET description: http://plantnet.rbgsyd.nsw.gov.au/cgi-bin/NSWfl.pl?page=nswfl&lvl=sp&name=Senecio~elegans (accessed 6 February, 2021)
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