#senecio

I had a walk around a seaside cemetary in Dunedin one morning, because they're often a rich location for lichens and hardy plants, and found this one incorporated into the landscaping.

AKA Senecio greyi.

The binomial is derived from Ancient Greek for "Short tongue", referring to the short ray florets on the blossom. Sir George Grey (1812–1898) was a British explorer and colonial administrator who served as Governor of New Zealand, twice.

Primarily coastal, on rock outcrops and bluffs but may be found up river gorges and in suitably exposed habitats. Its tolerance of hot sun, poor soils, wind and coastal exposure make it a useful garden plant in those conditions.

The genus contains 39 species, all but one of them endemic to New Zealand. I'll be covering some of the others later.

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.

Senecio decaryi

Senecio is a very large genus in the Daisy Family (Asteraceae), and it still contains some wonderful succulent species - even after a lot of the succulent ones were removed into split-off genera such as Kleinia and Curio. This one is Senecio decaryi, from south-central Madagascar, with olive-green to gray-green succulent leaves and clusters of bright yellow flowers.

Kleinia anteuphorbium (Senecio anteuphorbium)

Senecio is one of the larger genera among the flowering plants, and there has long been debate about what should be included in it. Studies of the DNA of various species have supported the idea that smaller and more cohesive genera would make more sense, and many of the succulent species have now been moved into Kleinia or into Curio. Kleinia was first named as a genus back in 1754, and opinion has gone back and forth as to whether its species should be included in Senecio or kept apart, with the "apart" camp now gaining favor. Most of the species have succulent stems, often with lines than emanate from below the leaf-attachment points and run parallel down the side of the stem (see upper photo). The leaves may be succulent as well, as they are in the case of K. anteuphorbium, and these are deciduous (species in the newly-created genus Curio, in contrast, have succulent leaves that are not deciduous). Kleinia anteuphorbium comes from arid parts of Morocco, where it forms compact clumps of cylindrical stems that are leafless during the hot dry summer months. The flowers come mainly in the fall and winter, and like other Kleinia species they are clustered in a cup known as a capitulum.