Senecio megaglossus

Regional Species Conservation Assessments per IBRA subregion.

Least concern

Near threatened

Rare

Vulnerable

Endangered

Critically endangered

Extinct

Data deficient

Adelaide

Arkaroola

Ceduna

Coober Pedy

Hawker

Innamincka

Marla

Marree

Mount Gambier

Oodnadatta

Renmark

Wudinna

Keith

Yunta

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Senecio from the Latin 'senex' meaning an old man; referring to the white pappus attached to the seed. Megaglossus from the Latin 'mega' meaning large and 'glossus' meaning tongue; alluding to the shape of the floret.

Endemic to South Australia and found in the Flinders Ranges, Mid-North and the Marne River, growing on rocky gorges and valley slopes in tall open shrubland, woodland, and open-woodland on variable soils of loam and clay loams. Native. Very rare in South Australia.
Herbarium regions: Flinders Ranges, Eyre Peninsula, Northern Lofty, Murray
NRM regions: Northern and Yorke, South Australian Arid Lands, South Australian Murray-Darling Basin
AVH map: SA distribution map (external link)

Erect but much branched perennial shrub to 80 cm high. Leaves somewhat overlapping, obovate to oblong-lanceolate to 70 mm long and 25 mm wide, bluish green with a waxy layer and slightly serrated margins. Flower-head in a cluster with 1-3 large bright yellow daisy flowers. Flowering between August and November. Fruits are large daisy-head with exposed yellowish pappus. Seeds are brown oblong seed to 7 mm long and 3 mm wide, covered in dense short hairs and with a few striation and persistent yellowish pappus. Seed embryo type is spatulate fully developed.

Collect seeds between September and December. Collect heads that are large and fluffy. Either pick off the whole heads or use your finger and pull off the seeds from the head. Mature seeds will come off easily. Place the heads in a tray for a week to dry. No cleaning is required if only pure seeds are collected. If heads are collected, then rub the heads gently with your hands 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. From one collection, the seed viability was high, at 100%.

Location	No. of seeds (weight grams)	Number of plants	Date collected	Collection number Collection location	Date stored	% Viability	Storage temperature
BGA MSB	17,600 (366.43 g) 16,500 (306 g)	250	4-Nov-2005	TEE1 Flinders Ranges	19-Sep-2008		+5°C, -18°C

Location: BGA — the seeds are stored at the Adelaide Botanic Gardens, MSB — the seeds are stored at the Millennium Seed Bank, Kew, England.
Number of plants: This is the number of plants from which the seeds were collected.
Collection location: The Herbarium of South Australia's region name.
% Viability: Percentage of filled healthy seeds determined by a cut test or x-ray.

Date	Result	T0	T50	Pre-treatment \| Germination medium \| Incubator: Photoperiod / Thermoperiod
Jul-06	39%	14	NA	buried in-situ 7 month, dry heat 80Â°C oven 15 min; moist sand irrigated with 0.5% Mancozeb fungicide Incubated under spring/autumn conditions
Dec-05	36%	12	NA	filter paper over moist sponge; Incubated under winter conditions
Jul-06	29%	10	NA	buried in-situ 7 month, dry heat 80Â°C oven 15 min; moist sand irrigated with 0.5% Mancozeb fungicide Incubated under spring/autumn conditions
Aug-06	29%	10	NA	moist sand irrigated with 0.5% Mancozeb fungicide Incubated under spring/autumn conditions

Result: Maximum percentage of germination observed.
T0: Number of days before first germinant observed.
T50: Number of days to achieve 50% germination.
Pre-treatment: The initial treatment that the seeds received prior to placement on germination media.
Germination medium: The substrate that seeds were placed on for the duration of the germination experiment.
Incubator conditions:
Photoperiod: The duration of light exposure that the seeds were subject to during a 24 hour period.
Thermoperiod: The constant or diurnal temperatures that seeds were subject to during a 24 hour period.
Winter conditions: 15°C 20 h (3am→11pm); 5°C 4 h (11pm→3am) / 10 h light (8am→6pm); 14 h dark (6pm→8am)
Spring/Autumn conditions: 22°C 12 h (8am→8pm); 10°C 12 h (8pm→8am) / 12 h light (8am→8pm); 12 h dark (8pm→8am)
Summer conditions: 30°C 14 h (6am→8pm); 15°C 10 h (8pm→6am) / 14 h light (6am→8pm); 10 h dark (8pm→6am)

Fleurieu (KAN02)	Kanmantoo	Regionally Extinct (IUCN: CR B2ab(i,ii,iii); D) (Definite Decline) [only known from Mann River; gone from 15 plants to 3 plants left; grazed by sheep]
Broughton (FLB02)	Flinders Lofty Block	Endangered (IUCN: EN C1+2a(i)) (Probable Decline) [grazing]
Olary Spur (FLB03)		Endangered (IUCN: EN B2ab(iii)) (Probable Decline) [Grazing issues]
Southern Flinders (FLB04)		Endangered (IUCN: EN B2ab(iii)) (Probable Decline) [Probable decline.]