Plants of South Eastern New South Wales

Senecio pinnatifolius

Flowers and leaves (var. alpinus). Australian Plant Image Index, photographer Murray Fagg, Kosciuszko National Park

Flowering plant (var. alpinus). Photographer Don Wood, Glenbog State Forest, SW of Bemboka

Flower heads and leaves (var. lanceolatus). Photographer Thomas N, Great Otway National Park, Vic

Flower buds (var. lanceolatus). Photographer Thomas N, between Apollo Bay & Lorne, Vic

Flowering stems (var. pinnatifolius). Photographer Don Wood, Wonboyn Beach, Nadgee Nature Reserve, south of Eden

Plants (var. pinnatifolius). Photographer Arthur Chapman, Vic

Common name

var. alpinus: Snowfield groundsel, Variable groundsel

var. lanceolatus: Variable groundsel 

var. pinnatifolius: Variable groundsel

Family

Asteraceae

Where found

Forest, woodland, shrubland, grassy areas, alpine herbfields, coastal dunes, near sphagnum swamps, margins of lakes, and dry lake beds. Widespread.

var. alpinus: Forest, woodland, grassy areas, alpine herbfields, and near sphagnum swamps, at moderate to high altitudes. Kosciuszko National Park, the mountains to the north, and the ACT. Occasionally elsewhere..

var. lanceolatus:  Forest, woodland, shrubland, margins of lakes and dry lake beds. Sydney area. Blue Mountains and south to near Goulburn. Kosciuszko National Park. Coastal south of Eden. Occasionally elsewhere.

var. pinnatifolius:  Forest, woodland, shrubland, and coastal dunes. Widespread. Few records from the tablelands. Not recorded from the ACT.

Notes

Annual or perennial herb to 2 m tall, or sprawling or prostrate, sometimes rhizomatous, largely hairless. Leaves thin to fleshy (fleshy on the coast), alternating up the stems, hairless, margins entire or toothed, often dissected with 1–7 segments per side, sometimes with basal segments or lobes. Midstem leaves 1.5-15 cm long, 5-100 mm wide, undivided to deeply divided, margins entire or toothed. Flower heads with 8-15 yellow 'petals', each 5-20 mm long, and yellow centres 2-6 mm in diameter. Flower heads below the 'petals' bell-shaped, surrounded by about 13, sometimes about 20, appressed bracts. Flower heads in 1–40 flowered clusters.

VICFLORA description:  https://vicflora.rbg.vic.gov.au/flora/taxon/690e0b3b-daad-4ef8-b3d5-f2f34c8b704b (accessed 29 January 2021)

var. alpinus:  Sometimes rhizomatous. Stems sometimes unbranched. Usually both the flower stalks and the margins of the outer bracts more or less densely hairy. Bracts appressed to the flower heads never have a purple arrow head shaped mark about 1 mm below the tips. Small bracts at the base of the flower heads predominantly green and soft. About 13 appressed bracts surrounding the flower heads.

All native plants on unleased land in the ACT are protected.

Rare Vic.

PlantNET description:  http://plantnet.rbgsyd.nsw.gov.au/cgi-bin/NSWfl.pl?page=nswfl&lvl=in&name=Senecio~pinnatifolius+var.~alpinus (accessed 5 April 2021)

var. lanceolatus:  Not rhizomatous. Bracts appressed to the flower heads have a purple arrow-head shaped marking near the tip, just visible with the naked eye. Small bracts at the base of the flower heads with broad translucent margins. About 13 bracts surrounding the flower heads.

VICFLORA description:  https://vicflora.rbg.vic.gov.au/flora/taxon/4bc725ec-a4bd-4193-a790-eead29559aee  (accessed 29 January 2021)

var. pinnatifolius:  Not rhizomatous. Stems usually branched. Flower stalks usually hairless. Bracts appressed to the flower heads never have a purple arrow head shaped mark about 1 mm below the tips. Small bracts at the base of the flower heads predominantly green and soft. About 13 or about 20 bracts surrounding the flower heads.

PlantNET description:  http://plantnet.rbgsyd.nsw.gov.au/cgi-bin/NSWfl.pl?page=nswfl&lvl=in&name=Senecio~pinnatifolius+var.~pinnatifolius (accessed 29 January 2021)