Senecio auricula Bourg. ex Coss.

Species

Family: COMPOSITAE (ASTERACEAE)

Genus: Senecio

Sinònims: Jacobaea auricula (Bourg. ex Coss.) Pelser

Spanish common name: Senecio de saladar.

Province distribution: Alacant. Barcelona. Lleida. Tarragona. València.

General distribution (Phytogeography): Southwestern Mediterranean

Plants protected by law: País Valencià Catalogue.

IUCN Category: DDData deficient

Flowering time: JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec

Life-forms: Hemicryptophyte.

Habitats: Litoral marshes and riparian. Gypsicolous shrubland. Subdesertic xerosteppes, espartaes. Well-lit habitats on gypsiferous or saline soils, coastal and inland, often arid soils with edaphic moisture.

Characteristics: Perennial, rhizomatous herb. Erect stem 8-35 cm tall, branching only in the inflorescence. Leaves mostly in a basal rosette, spatulate, fleshy and sparsely hairy; cauline leaves smaller. Inflorescences in capitula of few flowers (up to 8), ovate-cylindrical. Flowers yellow, the central ones tubular, surrounded by showy ligulate florets (8-12 mm). Fruits with a hairy body, about 4-5 mm long, with a pappus of 6-8 mm.

Observations: Considering the indumentum, leaf shape and margin, as well as the morphology and length of the bracts, several subspecies have been described, although most authors today do not recognize them as taxonomic entities.