Senecio esleri C.J.Webb

Erect herb, usually annual, rarely a short-lived perennial, up to c. 2 m tall. S terns striate, often tinged purple, sparsely to densely setose especially above, branched above to form inflorescence. Lowercauline leaves almost glabrous to sparsely setose on upper surface, almost glabrous to moderately setose on lower especially on mid vein, apetiolate and longcuneate, 1-pinnatifid to ½-2/3 width, elliptic to narrow-obovate, acute at apex, c. 80-200 × 15- 80 mm; segments narrow- to ovate-oblong, irregularly toothed; mid cauline leaves slightly larger, more deeply dissected with narrow-oblong toothed segments, sometimes amplexicaul and often 3-fid at base; uppermost leaves more ovate, sometimes with more or less linear segments. Capitula in loose panicles, 1-2 mm diameter. Supplementary bracts 3-10, lanceolate, ciliolate, 1-2 mm long. Involucral bracts (11)—12—13, linear, usually glabrous, sometimes with a few scattered hairs, 4.5-5.5 mm long. Outer florets c. 24-35, female, filiform; inner florets c. 4-11, hermaphrodite, tubular. Achenes narrowly ellipsoid- cy lindric, slightly narrowed and constricted below apex, with 2-3 rows of short antrorse hairs in grooves between or on edges of broad ribs and sometimes appearing evenly hairy, 2-2.3 mm long; pappus 5-7 mm long.

[Reproduced from Webb (1989, New Zealand J. Bot. 27: 565–567) with permission from The Royal Society of New Zealand.]