Kingdom: Plantae
Class: Magnoliopsida (dicots)
(unranked): Angiosperms
(unranked): Eudicots
(unranked): Asterids
Order: Asterales
Family: Asteraceae (Daisy family)
Genus: Senecio (ragwort)
Scientific name: Senecio glastifolius
Common Names: Pink Ragwort (because of its relationship to the better known Senecio jacobaea (yellow ragwort), Holly-leaved Senecio, Large Senecio, Woad leaved ragwort,
This PEST PLANT IS BANNED FROM BEING SOLD, PROPAGATED AND DISTRIBUTED.
Pink ragwort is a tall herbaceous perennial, toxic herb from South Africa. The flowers are purple to nearly white with a yellow centre. The plant flowers from August to December.
Senecio glastifolius is a member of the Asteraceae family and belongs to the large group of Senecio with prominent radiate capitula. It is a stout perennial (sometimes annual) with stems 1.1.5 m tall, and occasionally up to 2 m tall. The main stem, before it branches, can be 8 cm in diameter at the base of large plants. All stems produce flowers on widely spaced branches. Plants can be 0.5 m wide.
The obovate-elliptic leaves are serrate and amplexicaule (a leaf with its base clasping the stem), and often coarsely toothed at the base. The leaves decrease in length from 10.15 cm at the base to 3.5 cm near the top of the stems and they also become less serrate. The capitula range from 2.3 per plant to several hundred arranged in loose corymbs on a typical plant. These have supplementary bracts 3.5.5 mm long.
The flower head (capitula) have 19.23 narrow-oblong to linear involucral bracts 6.9 mm long. There are 12.22 ray florets, 12.25 mm long, that range in colour from purple to nearly white. The centre is yellow. The c. 2.5 mm long achenes are round in cross-section and either glabrous or hairy. The pappus is 7.9 mm long and seeds are 2 mm.
It was first recorded wild in New Zealand in 1963 and for several decades it remained largely confined to a few ruderal sites near Gisborne and in the southern North Island. However, it now occupies a wide range of mostly coastal sites, especially from Wellington to Wanganui, where in recent years it has begun to spread dramatically along the coast. It is now particularly abundant on motorways and hillsides.
Values at risk: Agricultural production, through competition with pasture.
Taranaki Strategy rule:
In the areas shaded red on the map, you must destroy any pink ragwort or ragwort on your property.
In the areas shaded brown in the map, you must destroy all pink ragwort or ragwort on your property within 25 metres inside your property boundary.
Senecio glastifolius smothering in a valley south of Wanganui[1]
Senecio glastifolius growing on the side of a road.
[2]
The holly-like leaves
Leaves in a dry area
Thanks to Wikipedia for text and information:
https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/
