Senecio cineraria DC.
dusty miller
Erect shrub, up to 60-(100) cm tall. Stems densely white-lanate, finally glabrous toward woody base, much-branched above and below. Lvs densely white- lanate on lower surface, somewhat less hairy and grey on upper surface, petiolate; petiole much < lamina, slightly amplexicaul; lamina lyrate-pinnatifid or 2-3-pinnatisect, ovate to elliptic, obtuse at apex, (2)-3-10 × (1.5)-2-6 cm; segments narrow-oblong to ovate; venation pinnate. Lvs subtending infl. becoming smaller, apetiolate, and often 1-pinnatisect with narrower segments, or not lobed and entire. Capitula numerous, in dense corymbs. Supplementary bracts 2-8, lanceolate, 1.5-3 mm long. Involucral bracts 10-14, oblong, densely lanate, 4.5-7 mm long. Ray florets 7-15; ligules yellow, 3-7 mm long. Disc golden yellow. Achenes cylindric, glabrous, 2-2.5 mm long; pappus 6-7 mm long.
N.: Napier, Lyall Bay (Wellington); S.: Nelson, Marlborough, Canterbury.
Mediterranean 1926
Coastal sites, locally common.
FL Oct-Jan.
Dusty miller is cultivated for its ornamental foliage and is established in the wild where it seeds freely; however, isolated plants do not seem to set seed. N.Z. material can be referred to subsp. cineraria distinguished from other subspp. by the shorter peduncles and more dissected lvs. Lf dissection is quite variable in N.Z. material with lyrate and 2-pinnatisect lvs sometimes present at different positions in the same plant, so, although N.Z. plants more closely match subsp. cineraria, the infraspecific taxonomy is by no means satisfactory.
