Senecio crassiflorus

Common name

Portuguese: margarida-das-dunas

Description

Senecio crassiflorus is not an upright herb, the silvery to white woolly 20 centimetres (7.9 in) to 50 centimetres (20 in) tall plant tends to "lay down and rest" on the dunes and sandy coastal areas it inhabits.

Leaves

Shaped like spatula with roundish, long, narrow, linear bases to having a broad rounded apex and a tapering base. Mostly 4 centimetres (1.6 in) to 8 centimetres (3.1 in) long, .6 centimetres (0.24 in) to 2 centimetres (0.79 in) wide. The edges are smooth or toothed towards apex and both surfaces woolly.

Flowers

Broadly bell shaped, woolly flower heads appear singly or a few together, 1 centimetre (0.39 in) to 1.5 centimetres (0.59 in) in diameter.

Seeds and reproduction

Achenes .3 centimetres (0.12 in) to .5 centimetres (0.20 in); pappus 1.5 centimetres (0.59 in) long. Reports claim S. crassiflorus does not produce viable seeds and spreads itself asexually or via vegetative reproduction.

Community species

Ipomoea pes-caprae

Hydrocotyle bonariensis

Juncus acutus

Panicum sabularum

Spartina cf. ciliata

Hydrocotyle umbellata

Colombian communities

Distribution

Native

Neotropic: Brazil: Brazil Southern South America: Argentina, Uruguay

Current

Neotropic: Brazil: Brazil Southern South America: Argentina, Uruguay Australasia: Australia: New South Wales New Zealand North: Wellington