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Slender Groundsel
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| Slender Groundsel photos | Family: Daisy (Asteraceae syn. Compositae) |
| Scientific Name: | Senecio glossanthus |  Leaves and flowers of Slender Groundsel Photo: A J Brown |
Other Common Name: | Groundsel | |
Status: | Native to Western Australia, South Australia, New South Wales, Northern Territory, Queensland and Victoria. | |
Plant Description: | An erect, sparsely hairy, ephemeral herb, 8–30 cm tall, and unbranched or few branched except for the flower-heads. The mildly stem-clasping, leaves are lanceolate (spear-shaped) to broad-lanceolate, mostly 1–7 cm long and 3–10 mm wide, undivided or irregularly toothed or with 1–6 irregular lobes. Inflorescence (flower-head) branched. Each 3-3.5 mm diameter flower is actually a composite of female, outer ray florets (‘petals’) and bisexual, inner tubular or disk florets. The whole bell-shaped, composite ‘flower’ is enclosed in an involucre, 3.5-6 mm long, consisting of 7-10 phyllaries. The fruit is a narrow-obloid achene, 1.8-3 mm long and more or less covered in hairs. | |
Habitat: | Largely confined to the far north-west of the State, growing in seasonally wet areas, such as Gilgai plains and clay pans but also in shrublands and woodlands. Appears to tolerate some salinity. | |
Comments: | Similar to Salt Groundsel (Senecio halophilus) which has until recently been included within the species. Slender Groundsel differs in having a smaller involucre and shorter achene hairs on the disc florets, and is not as salt tolerant. | |
 Inflorescence of Slender Groundsel Photo: A J Brown |  Slender Groundsel flowerheads Photo: A J Brown | |
