''Senecio pulcher'' is an

ornamental plant Ornamental plants or garden plants are plants that are primarily grown for their beauty but also for qualities such as scent or how they shape physical space. Many flowering plants and garden varieties tend to be specially bred cultivars that ...

native to the wet valleys & slopes and flooded rocky habitats in

Argentina Argentina (), officially the Argentine Republic ( es, link=no, República Argentina), is a country in the southern half of South America. Argentina covers an area of , making it the second-largest country in South America after Brazil, t ...

Brazil Brazil ( pt, Brasil; ), officially the Federative Republic of Brazil (Portuguese: ), is the largest country in both South America and Latin America. At and with over 217 million people, Brazil is the world's fifth-largest country by area ...

, and

Uruguay Uruguay (; ), officially the Oriental Republic of Uruguay ( es, República Oriental del Uruguay), is a country in South America. It shares borders with Argentina to its west and southwest and Brazil to its north and northeast; while bordering ...

. Cited in

Flora Brasiliensis ''Flora Brasiliensis'' is a book published between 1840 and 1906 by the editors Carl Friedrich Philipp von Martius, August Wilhelm Eichler, Ignatz Urban and many others. It contains taxonomic treatments of 22,767 species, mostly Brazilian angiospe ...

Carl Friedrich Philipp von Martius Carl Friedrich Philipp (Karl Friedrich Philipp) von Martius (17 April 1794 – 13 December 1868) was a German botanist and explorer. Life Martius was born at Erlangen Erlangen (; East Franconian: ''Erlang'', Bavarian: ''Erlanga'') is a Mid ...

. After dusty miller ('' S. cineraria''), ''S. pulcher'' is perhaps one of the most popular species of the genus for

horticulture Horticulture is the branch of agriculture that deals with the art, science, technology, and business of plant cultivation. It includes the cultivation of fruits, vegetables, nuts, seeds, herbs, sprouts, mushrooms, algae, flowers, seaweeds and no ...

along with German ivy (''

Senecio mikanioides ''Delairea'' is a plant genus within the family Asteraceae that is native to South Africa. Classified within the tribe Senecioneae, it contains only one species, ''Delairea odorata'', which was previously included in the genus ''Senecio'' as ''Se ...

'') and purple ragwort (''

Senecio elegans ''Senecio elegans'' is a species of flowering plant in the aster family known by the common names redpurple ragwort, purple groundsel, wild cineraria and purple ragwort. Description It is an annual herb producing a single, erect, branching ste ...

'') or it was in 1917.

Description

A robust to tall erect herb

perennial A perennial plant or simply perennial is a plant that lives more than two years. The term ('' per-'' + '' -ennial'', "through the years") is often used to differentiate a plant from shorter-lived annuals and biennials. The term is also wide ...

with a stem covered with 'cobwebby' hairs. Its scarce leaves to long, shallow lobes along the margin with teeth and a thick taper at the tip. The late summer inflorescence very striking; the radiate flower heads, to across with many long red-purple rays and a yellow disc.

Distribution

''Senecio pulcher'' grows at altitudes between and in

Southern Brazil The South Region of Brazil (; ) is one of the five regions of Brazil. It includes the states of Paraná, Rio Grande do Sul, and Santa Catarina, and covers , being the smallest region of the country, occupying only about 6.76% of the territory ...

and the southern mountains in

Horticulture

''Senecio pulcher'' is grown as an ornamental plant in the United States and Europe; flowering in late summer; it is known to be hardy in southern

New England New England is a region comprising six states in the Northeastern United States: Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Rhode Island, and Vermont. It is bordered by the state of New York to the west and by the Canadian province ...

in protected places with well drained soils, but its beauty can be marred by

frost Frost is a thin layer of ice on a solid surface, which forms from water vapor in an above- freezing atmosphere coming in contact with a solid surface whose temperature is below freezing, and resulting in a phase change from water vapor (a g ...

and bad weather. A native perennial, as a captive, ''S. pulcher'' is an

annual Annual may refer to: * Annual publication, periodical publications appearing regularly once per year **Yearbook **Literary annual * Annual plant *Annual report *Annual giving *Annual, Morocco, a settlement in northeastern Morocco *Annuals (band), ...

who is hesitant to ripen its seed; the gardeners continue the species with inch long root cuttings over-wintered in a pan of light sandy soil in a greenhouse.

References

External links

* {{Taxonbar, from=Q7450423

pulcher Pulcher is Latin for "beautiful", and may refer to: * Claudius Pulcher (disambiguation), Romans * Publius Clodius Pulcher, Roman politician and street agitator * '' Pelvicachromis pulcher'' See also * * Pulchella ''Pulchella'' is a diato ...

Flora of Argentina Flora of Brazil Flora of Uruguay