Plants of
South Australia
Senecio megaglossus
Asteraceae
Superb grounsel,
Large-flower Groundsel,
Superb Groundsel
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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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Botanical art

Kath Alcock painting: 1

Common names

Superb grounsel

Large-flower Groundsel

Superb Groundsel

Etymology

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.

Distribution and status

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)

Plant description

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.

Seed collection and propagation

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%.

Seeds stored:
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LocationNo. of seeds
(weight grams)
Number
of plants
Date
collected
Collection number
Collection location
Date
stored
% ViabilityStorage
temperature
BGA 
MSB
17,600 (366.43 g)
16,500 (306 g)
2504-Nov-2005TEE1
Eyre Peninsula
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.
Germination table:
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