Flora-Fauna

Senecio vernalis Waldst. & Kit.

First published in Descr. Icon. Pl. Hung. 1: 23 (1800).

(Nouvelle Flore du Liban et de la Syrie, vol. 3, p. 429, Pl. CCXLI, 2; 1983)

Description

Life-form & habit: Annual with upright stems 20–60 cm tall, sometimes branching from the base; young plants are cobwebby-woolly and become less hairy with age.

Leaves: Oblong, with wavy margins or lobed nearly to the midrib; the oblong lobes bear small teeth.

Inflorescence & flowers: Ovate heads, 10–15 mm long, have six to twelve small outer scales and long-pointed involucral bracts with blackish tips. Spreading rays are as long as the involucre.

Fruit: Striated achenes densely covered in short hairs, with a persistent pappus.

Flowering and habitat

Phenology: Flowering November–May.

Habitat & elevation: Cultivated and abandoned ground.

Distribution

Lebanese distribution: Tyr–Nahr Qazmiye, Saida, Beirut, Pont du Pacha, Jounieh, Tripoli, Ile Bella, Ras Chekka–Hamate, Abey, Chemlan, Bhamdoun, above Aley, Ehden, Ghazir, Hasroun, Falougha, Dahr el Baidar, Qoubbayat, Akkar plain, Taanayel, Sarada, Zahle, Wadi el Arayech, Hosn Sleiman and Qornet Chehwan.

Syrian distribution: Latakia, Bhamra, Qalaat el Hosn, Bloudan, Wadi el Qarn, Raboue, Jabal Qebbi, Damascus, Ain Haramiye, Kessab, Homs, Aleppo, Ezraa, Hamme, Soueida and Daraa; Mouterde also cites slopes above Lake Tiberias.

Native range: Albania, Austria, Baltic States, Belarus, Belgium, Bulgaria, Central European Russia, Cyprus, Czechia-Slovakia, Denmark, East Aegean Is., East European Russia, Egypt, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Iran, Iraq, Italy, Kazakhstan, Krym, Lebanon-Syria, Netherlands, North Caucasus, Northwest European Russia, Norway, NW. Balkan Pen., Palestine, Poland, Romania, South European Russia, Sweden, Switzerland, Transcaucasus, Turkmenistan, Türkiye, Türkiye-in-Europe, Ukraine, Uzbekistan.

Introduced into: Ecuador, Finland, Great Britain, Ireland, North European Russia, Sakhalin.