Senecio elegans flowerheads, Kirstenbosch National Botanical Garden, Cape Town, South Africa
Senecio elegans is a species of flowering plant in the aster family known by the common names redpurple ragwort,[1]purple groundsel,[2]wild cineraria and purple ragwort.
Description
It is an annual herb producing a single, erect, branching stem which grows to a maximum height around 60 centimeters. The leaves have blades up to about 8 centimeters long which are deeply cut or divided into several toothed lobes. The herbage is somewhat hairy and glandular, sticky to the touch. The inflorescence bears flower heads lined with black-tipped phyllaries. They contain many yellowish disc florets at the center. Each has usually 13 ray florets 1 to 1.5 centimeters long which can be most any shade of red-purple.
