Barkleyanthus

Barkleyanthus is a monotypic genus[2] of flowering plants in the aster family, Asteraceae, containing the single species Barklyanthus salicifolius, a plant formerly classified in the genus Senecio.[3][4][5] It is native to North and Central America, where its distribution extends from the southwestern United States to El Salvador.[4] Its common names include willow ragwort,[5] willow groundsel, Barkley's-ragwort,[6] and jarilla.[2]

Barkleyanthus
Conservation status
Apparently Secure  (NatureServe)
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Plantae
(unranked):	Angiosperms
(unranked):	Eudicots
(unranked):	Asterids
Order:	Asterales
Family:	Asteraceae
Tribe:	Senecioneae
Genus:	Barkleyanthus H.Rob. & Brettell
Species:	B. salicifolius
Binomial name
Barkleyanthus salicifolius (Kunth) H.Rob. & Brettell
Synonyms[1]
Cineraria salicifolia Kunth Cacalia angustifolia Kunth Monticalia angustifolia (Kunth) B.Nord. Senecio humboldtianus DC.

This plant is a shrub producing a branching stem usually about one to two meters tall, but known to exceed 4 meters at times. The leaves are roughly lance-shaped and are alternately arranged, sometimes more densely toward the ends of branches. They are up to 10 or 15 centimeters long. The inflorescence is often a wide array of several flower heads, but they may also be clustered in the leaf axils or branch tips. The head contains a few yellow ray florets, which are pistillate, and up to 25 or more yellow disc florets, which are bisexual. The fruit is a rough-textured, pyramidal or prism-shaped cypsela up to a centimeter long including its pappus of many barbed white bristles.[3]

This plant is abundant in parts of its range, particularly in Mexico, sometimes becoming weedy.[3] It flowers year-round, especially in spring,[3] and it may be in full flower at the end of the dry season.[2] It is admired for its yellow flower heads and is cultivated as an ornamental plant.[2][3]

The plant is used in Mexican traditional medicine to treat fever and rheumatism.[7] In Chiapas it is used as an insecticide in corn supplies.[7] Secondary metabolites isolated from the species include pyrrolizidine alkaloids, lactones, furoeremophilanes, and sesquiterpenes.[7]

References

1. The Plant List, Barkleyanthus salicifolius (Kunth) H.Rob. & Brettell
2. de Vivar, A. R., et al. (2007). Secondary metabolites from Mexican species of the tribe Senecioneae (Asteraceae). Archived 2014-10-21 at the Wayback Machine Revista de la Sociedad Química de México 51(3), 160-72.
3. Barkleyanthus salicifolius. Flora of North America.
4. "Barkleyanthus salicifolius". Germplasm Resources Information Network (GRIN). Agricultural Research Service (ARS), United States Department of Agriculture (USDA). Retrieved 21 January 2018.
5. Barkleyanthus salicifolius. Integrated Taxonomic Information System (ITIS).
6. Barkleyanthus salicifolius. NatureServe. 2013.
7. González, C. P., et al. (2013). Anti-inflammatory activity and composition of Senecio salignus Kunth. BioMed Research International 2013.