Classification
Class
Magnoliopsida Brongn.
Order
Asterales Link
Family
Compositae Giseke
Genus
Senecio L.
 Nomenclature
Scientific Name:
Senecio biserratus Belcher, Ann. Missouri Bot. Gard. 43: 43 (1956)
Synonymy:
  • = Senecio flaccidus A.Rich., Essai Fl. Nouv.-Zél., 110-112 (1834) nom. illeg., non Senecio flaccidus Less. 1831
  • = Erechtites sonchoides DC., Prodr. [A. P. de Candolle] 6, 296 (1838)
Vernacular Name(s):
Fireweed
 Description

Erect or straggling annual or short-lived perennial herb. Mid cauline lvs usually almost glabrous, sometimes with scattered short hairs, apetiolate, elliptic or oblong, usually pinnately lobed with the oblong to ovate segments irregularly serrate or dentate, usually amplexicaul and deeply 2–4-fid at base, (35)–60–170 × (8)–15–60 mm. Uppermost lvs and those of depauperate plants smaller, sometimes narrow-elliptic and not deeply lobed but irregularly dentate or serrate. Supplementary bracts 3–7, 1–2 mm long. Involucral bracts (7)–8 -(9), glabrous, 5–7–(8) mm long. Ray florets 0. Disc yellow, 1–2 mm diam. Achenes subcylindric, narrowed to and slightly constricted below apex, usually with 2–3 rows of hairs in narrow grooves between broad ribs, rarely ± evenly hairy, 2.5–2.8 mm long.

[From: Webb et al. (1988) Flora of New Zealand. Volume 4.]

 Biostatus
Indigenous (Non-endemic)
 Phenology

Flowering: Nov.–Mar.

 Bibliography
Belcher, R.O. 1956: A Revision of the Genus Erechtites (Compositae) with Inquiries into Senecio and Arrhenechthites. Annals of the Missouri Botanical Garden 43: 1–85.
de Candolle, A.P. 1838 ("1837"): Prodromus Systematis Naturalis Regni Vegetabilis. Vol. 6. Treuttel et Würtz, Paris.
de Lange, P.J.; Rolfe, J.R.; Barkla J.W.; Courtney, S.P.; Champion, P.D.; Perrie, L.R.; Beadel, S.N.; Ford, K.A.; Breitwieser, I.; Schönberger, I.; Hindmarsh-Walls, R.; Heenan, P.B.; Ladley, K. 2018: Conservation status of New Zealand indigenous vascular plants, 2017. New Zealand Threat Classification Series. No. 22. [Declining]
de Lange, P.J.; Rolfe, J.R.; Champion, P.D.; Courtney, S.P.; Heenan, P.B.; Barkla, J.W.; Cameron, E.K.; Norton, D.A.; Hitchmough, R.A. 2013: Conservation status of New Zealand indigenous vascular plants, 2012. New Zealand Threat Classification Series 3. Department of Conservation, Wellington. [Not Threatened]
Richard, A. 1832: Essai d'une Flore de la Nouvelle Zélande. In: Dumont d'Urville, J. Voyage de découvertes de l'Astrolabe. Botanique. Tastu, Paris.