Burke: Senecio vulgaris

	Senecio vulgaris
	common groundsel, old man in the spring
Habit	Simple or strongly-branched, tap-rooted annual, 1-4 dm. tall.
Leaves	Leafy throughout, the leaves coarsely and irregularly toothed to pinnatifid, 2-10 cm. long and 5-45 mm. wide, the lower tapering to a petiole, the upper sessile and clasping.
Flowers	Heads many, strictly rayless, the flowers all tubular and perfect; disk usually 5-10 mm. wide; involucre 5-8 mm. high, the princeple bracts about 21, the bracteoles short but well-developed, black tipped; pappus copious.

	Senecio vulgaris
Identification notes	Separate from the only other annual Senecio in our area by the number of involucre bracts (S. vulgaris has about 21, S. sylvaticus,13), the bracteoles (only S. vulgarisÃ† are black-tipped) and the aroma (only S. sylvaticus is malodorous).
Flowering time	February-September
Habitat	Roadsides, waste ground, lawns, and other disturbed, open sites.
Distribution	Occurring on both sides of the Cascades crest in Washington; Alaska to California, east across most of North America to the Atlantic Coast. [WildflowerSearch map] [BONAP county map]
Origin	Introduced from Europe
Conservation status	Not of concern
Sibling taxa	S. elmeri, S. fremontii, S. hydrophiloides, S. hydrophilus, S. integerrimus, S. lugens, S. neowebsteri, S. serra, S. sylvaticus, S. triangularis, S. viscosus
Web links	Local floras: BC, CA, OR, WA Local Web sites: CalFlora, CalPhotos, Flora NW, PNW Herbaria, Turner Photog. WildflowerSearch iNaturalist (observations) USDA Plants Database LBJ Wildflower Center SEINet Plants of the World Online Encyclopedia of Life Wikipedia Google Image Search

Senecio vulgaris

common groundsel, old man in the spring

Habit

Simple or strongly-branched, tap-rooted annual, 1-4 dm. tall.

Leaves

Leafy throughout, the leaves coarsely and irregularly toothed to pinnatifid, 2-10 cm. long and 5-45 mm. wide, the lower tapering to a petiole, the upper sessile and clasping.

Flowers

Heads many, strictly rayless, the flowers all tubular and perfect; disk usually 5-10 mm. wide;

involucre 5-8 mm. high, the princeple bracts about 21, the bracteoles short but well-developed, black tipped;

pappus copious.

Separate from the only other annual Senecio in our area by the number of involucre bracts (S. vulgaris has about 21, S. sylvaticus,13), the bracteoles (only S. vulgarisÃ† are black-tipped) and the aroma (only S. sylvaticus is malodorous).

Flowering time

February-September

Habitat

Roadsides, waste ground, lawns, and other disturbed, open sites.

Distribution