Senecio vulgaris
L. Common GroundselAscending to erect, somewhat fleshy, weakly pubescent annual to c. 50 cm high. Leaves sessile, c. oblong, 3–8 cm long, 6–20 mm wide, pinnatifid with lobes cleft c. halfway to midrib, and irregularly serrate; lower leaves tapered toward base, upper leaves with broad, stem-clasping bases; surfaces with scattered, long hairs or rarely quite glabrous. Inflorescences usually with c. 6–20 capitula in congested corymbs, elongating in fruit; capitula non-radiate; involucre campanulate or broadly cylindric, 5–7 mm long, glabrous or with very few hairs at base; bracts 18–23, black-tipped, often recurved; bracteoles conspicuous, in several series, black; florets 40–70, all bisexual. Cypselas cylindric to bluntly fusiform, c. 2 mm long, pale brown, shortly appressed-pubescent in rows; pappus of slender hairs c. 4 mm long, deciduous. Flowers Jul.–Feb.
VVP, GipP, OtP, WaP, Gold, CVU, HSF, OtR, Strz. Naturalized all States except NT, and almost globally in cool-temperate regions. Native to Europe. In Victoria apparently confined to the vicinity of a few major settlements in the south (e.g. Portland, Colac, Geelong, Melbourne, Dandenong Ranges, Bairnsdale), and not common beyond cultivated ground.
Walsh, N.G. (1999). Senecio. In: Walsh, N.G.; Entwisle, T.J., Flora of Victoria Vol. 4, Cornaceae to Asteraceae, pp. 941–965. Inkata Press, Melbourne.
Spinning
