Classification
Class
Magnoliopsida Brongn.
Order
Asterales Link
Family
Compositae Giseke
Genus
Senecio L.
 Nomenclature
Scientific Name:
Senecio scaberulus (Hook.f.) D.G.Drury, New Zealand J. Bot. 12: 535-538 (1974)
Synonymy:
  • ≡ Erechtites scaberulus Hook.f., Handb. New Zealand Fl. 157 (1864) – as scaberula
  • ≡ Senecio hispidulus var. scaberulus (Hook.f.) Belcher, Ann. Missouri Bot. Gard. 43: 69 (1956)
  • = Erechtites hispidulus Hook.f., Bot. Antarct. Voy. II. (Fl. Nov.-Zel.) Part I, 142 (1853) nom. illeg., non Erechtites hispidulus DC. 1838 – as hispidula
  • = Erechtites scaberulus var. chathamicus Allan, Fl. New Zealand 1, 733, 971 (1961) – as chathamica
Vernacular Name(s):
Fireweed
 Description

Erect annual to short-lived perennial herb. Mid cauline lvs hispid with short to long jointed hairs on upper surface and long jointed hairs on lower, apetiolate, narrow- to ovate-elliptic, dentate to pinnately lobed or 1-pinnatifid with triangular to narrow-oblong, few-toothed segments, not amplexicaul to amplexicaul and dentate or 1–3-fid at base, (3)–7–12–(18) × (0.5)–2–5 cm. Uppermost lvs smaller, usually lanceolate and more often dentate or only shallowly lobed. Supplementary bracts 4–6, 1–2 mm long. Involucral bracts 10–13, glabrous, (5)–6–7 mm long. Ray florets 0. Disc yellow, c. 2 mm diam. Achenes subcylindric, slightly constricted below apex, usually ± evenly hairy, (2)–2.2–2.6–(3), mm long.

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

 Biostatus
Indigenous (Endemic)
 Phenology

Flowering: Oct.–Feb.

 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.
Connor, H.E.; Edgar, E. 1987: Name changes in the indigenous New Zealand flora, 1960–1986 and Nomina Nova IV, 1983–1986. New Zealand Journal of Botany 25: 115–170.
de Lange, P.J.; Norton, D.A.; Courtney, S.P.; Heenan, P.B.; Barkla, J.W.; Cameron, E.K.; Hitchmough, R.; Townsend, A.J. 2009: Threatened and uncommon plants of New Zealand (2008 revision). New Zealand Journal of Botany 47: 61–96. [Nationally Critical]
de Lange, P.J.; Norton, D.A.; Heenan, P.B.; Courtney, S.P.; Molloy, B.P.J.; Ogle, C.C.; Rance, B.D. 2004: Threatened and uncommon plants of New Zealand. New Zealand Journal of Botany 42(1): 45–76.
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. [Nationally Critical]
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. [Nationally Critical]
Drury, D. G. 1974: Illustrated and annotated key to the erechtitoid Senecios in New Zealand (Senecioneae-Compositae) with a description of Senecio diaschides. New Zealand Journal of Botany 12: 513–540.
Hooker, J.D. 1852–1853 ("1853"): The Botany of the Antarctic Voyage of H.M. Discovery Ships Erebus and Terror in the Years 1839–1843, under the command of Captain Sir James Clark Ross. II. Flora Novae-Zelandiae. Part I. Flowering plants. Lovell Reeve, London.
Hooker, J.D. 1864: Handbook of the New Zealand Flora: a systematic description of the native plants of New Zealand and the Chatham, Kermadec's, Lord Auckland's, Campbell's and Macquarie's Islands. Part I. Reeve, London.