Senecio vulgaris L.
Family: Asteraceae, Tribe: Senecioneae

Pertinent Synonyms & Notes (particularly those used in California; go to GRIN for other synonyms)

none

Pertinent Common Names (particularly those used in California; go to GRIN for other common names)

common groundsel

Primary Disseminule Type

fruit

Description (diagnostics are in brown)

Fruit a cypsela, narrowly oblong, sometimes slightly curved, terete to slightly compressed (cross-section oval to 4-sided), 1.8–3 mm long x 0.2–0.4 mm diameter. Surface yellowish- to reddish-brown, glistening under magnification, shallowly ribbed to almost smooth, densely hairy (hairs 0.1–0.2 mm long, plump) to glabrous between ribs. Pappus deciduous (and therefore usually missing from dispersed fruit), bristles numerous, soft, white, ca. twice length of fruit body (4–7 mm long).

Style base white, sometimes extending beyond the raised, whitish apical collar which measures ca. 0.25 mm across.

Fruit attachment scar basal, cup-like.

Risk Assessment (codes in yellow or red indicate cause for concern; assessments are current as of mid-2011; click AUQP, NZBORIC, or NZBPI for access to the most recent versions of these databases and possible assessment changes)

AUQP, NZBORIC, NZBPI