#senecio

Plant of the Day

Tuesday 17 March 2026

The rare shrub Acrisione cymosa (senecio) is endemic to Chile. When blooming it is covered in large inflorescences of yellow composite flowers typical of senecios. This plant needs full sun with a well drained soil.

Senecio oxyriifolius

Senecio is a very large genus in the Daisy Family (Asteraceae), and it includes 2 closely related species, S. oxyriifolius and S. tropaeolifolius. I was never really certain which was which, but recently I read that S. tropaeolifolius has ray florets, while S. oxyriifolius does not. This clue caused me to label our plant as S. oxyriifolius. To explain a little, plants in the Asteraceae have a unique type of inflorescence, with a cup formed by a ring of bracts surrounding a cluster of small flowers. In many cases, the outer ring of flowers in the cup have greatly elongated sides (like a typical daisy or a coneflower), making the cluster look like it is a single flower instead of a group of them. Plants that lack these outer "ray florets" simply have a cup of tiny flowers, as seen in the photo above. Senecio oxyriifolius comes from eastern South Africa, as well as numerous countries farther to the north. It is a climbing plant, and can be trained to grow on a trellis or to grow along a fence.