Senecio madagascariensis

Madagascan Fireweed, Fireweed at Wamboin, NSW

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Identification history

	Senecio madagascariensis	23 Sep 2021	Tapirlord
	Senecio madagascariensis	23 Sep 2021	natureguy

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Significant sighting

Tapirlord noted:

23 Sep 2021

Weed of National significance, good to see that this infestation has been nipped in the bud.

User's notes

Single plant spotted on roadside from car. Stopped to investigate and removed single plant (bagged whole plant including all flowers/seeds - will press for herbarium specimen and bin-bag the rest). A small search in the area revealed no further plants. Exact location - at the north end of the first guardrail on the NSW side of the border. Already notified appropriate people/authorities.

4 comments

natureguy wrote:

23 Sep 2021

Neville Plumb commented that a few suspect plants he has found were identified as S. pinnatifolius var pinnatifolius. After thorough consideration and examination of the flowers and diagnostic features, I am tending more towards S. madagascariensis. From personal experience it seems like a more appropriate location for S. madagascariensis (a disturbed roadside). I have also never seen any in the area after living here for 11 years, further leading me to the conclusion of a recent arrival, and more likely a weed. A herbarium specimen was taken which should provide a definitive ID, I will get it to the herbarium as soon as possible.

MichaelMulvaney wrote:

23 Sep 2021

Thanks Natureguy keep us informed it has theright number of petals and the right leaf shape to be S. madagascariensis.

natureguy wrote:

28 Sep 2021

After doing some external research on Senecio species, I am pretty confident this is S. madagascariensis. The leaves are the wrong shape for S. pinnatifolius var. pinnatifolius, which has much thinner, lobed leaves rather than the wider, unlobed leaves of this plant, complete with fine serrated edges. The number of petals, bracts and bracteoles from my specimen also suit S. madagascariensis better than S. pinnatifolius var. pinnatifolius. Interestingly, from my research, other sites have also stated that S. pinnatifolius var. pinnatifolius is not found in the ACT, for example: https://apps.lucidcentral.org/plants_se_nsw/text/entities/senecio_pinnatifolius.htm and it is not listed on the ACT vascular plant census (only S. pinnatifolius var. alpinus, which is restricted to alpine areas). There are also no records on ALA from the ACT either, but there are several close by in NSW. There are several records on Naturemap, indicating that S. pinnatifolius var. pinnatifolius does occur in the ACT, but presumably it is not widespread.

MichaelMulvaney wrote:

28 Sep 2021

Thanks Natureguy - in the last two weeks we have had four new locations of this major weed reported. In each case just one or two plants so good that early detection has occurred - but ominous that this has occurred at multiple highly dispersed sites.

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