Plants of South Eastern New South Wales

Senecio tenuiflorus

Common name

A fireweed

Family

Asteraceae

Where found

Forest, woodland, and disturbed sites, often on rocky slopes. Widespread. Coastal only north from Jervis Bay.

Notes

Annual or biennial herb to about 1 m high. Stems cobwebby to more or less hairless. Lower leaves crowded, 4–10 cm long, 5–15 mm wide, margins toothed. Middle leaves alternating up the stem, 3–8 cm long, 2–8 mm wide, upper surface cobwebby to more or less rough, lower surface whitish, bristly with tapering hairs ending in long filaments, margins entire to more or less toothed or lobed with 1 or 2 triangular lobes per side. Uppermost leaves narrow. Flower heads 5–7 mm long, narrow-cylindrical, with 0 petals, surrounded by 7–13 appressed bracts. Florets 15–55, about same length as the flower head. Flower heads in many-flowered open clusters, often 20-60 per stem. Flowering: most of the year.

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