Botanical art
Prior names
Erechtites arguta var. dissecta
Senecio argutus
Erechtites arguta
Senecio glomeratus, partly
Common names
Short-fruit Purple Fireweed
Swamp Groundsel
Toothed Groundsel
Etymology
Senecio from the Latin 'senex' meaning an old man; referring to the white pappus attached to the seed. Glomeratus means clustered.
Distribution and status
Found on Kangaroo Island, southern Mount Lofty Ranges to the lower South-east in South Australia, growing in clearings or margins of sclerophyll forests or along roadsides. Also found in Western Australia, New South Wales, Victoria and Tasmania. Native. Common in South Australia. Uncommon in New South Wales. Common in the other states.
Herbarium regions: Eyre Peninsula, Murray, Southern Lofty, Kangaroo Island, South Eastern, Green Adelaide
NRM regions: Adelaide and Mount Lofty Ranges, Eyre Peninsula, Kangaroo Island, South Australian Murray-Darling Basin, South East
AVH map: SA distribution map (external link)
Plant description
Erect annual herb to 2m tall with a woody base. Leaves alternating up the stems to 20cm long and 30mm wide, sometimes larger, flat, hairy to slightly hairy. Leaves in the middle third of the stems with basal lobes, somewhat stem clasping, margins coarsely toothed to deeply lobed, the lobes often toothed. Uppermost leaves flat to linear, margins toothed or appearing entire due to rolling. Flower-heads top-shaped to almost globular, green to purple, with yellow to orange flowers, in open groups, often of 50-300 flower heads per stem. Differ to Senecio glomeratus ssp. longifructus by having red-brown seeds, hairs on the seed usually more than 5 mm long and the bases of the flower-heads are often purple. Flowering between November and February. Fruits are pale brown vase-shaped daisy-head. Seeds are brown oblong seed to 3 mm long and 0.5 mm wide, covered in white hairs and with numerous deep striations, pappus not persisting Seed embryo type is spatulate fully developed.
Seed collection and propagation
Collect seeds between February and April. Collect heads that are fat, hard and turning brown by picking off the whole heads. Place the heads in a tray for a week to dry. Then rub the heads gently with your hands or a rubber bung to dislodge the seeds. Viable seeds will be fat and hard. Store the seeds with a desiccant such as dried silica beads or dry rice, in an air tight container in a cool and dry place.
Location | No. of seeds (weight grams) | Number of plants | Date collected | Collection number Collection location | Date stored | % Viability | Storage temperature |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
MSB | 16,200 (2.54 g) | 1-Dec-2006 | RJB70690 Southern Lofty | ||||
BGA | 3,000 (0.48 g) | 15 | 3-Jan-2007 | RJB70987 Murray | 1-Aug-2007 | 70% | -18°C |