Senecio maranguensis

Senecio maranguensis a 2-meter (6 foot) woody shrub[2] or 6 meter (20 feet) climbing shrub from the family Asteraceae and species of the genus Senecio[3] which makes its home at the same altitudes as the bamboo on the slopes of the mountains in East Africa.[2]

Senecio maranguensis
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Plantae
Clade: Tracheophytes
Clade: Angiosperms
Clade: Eudicots
Clade: Asterids
Order: Asterales
Family: Asteraceae
Genus: Senecio
Species:
S. maranguensis
Binomial name
Senecio maranguensis
Synonyms

Senecio hageniae R.E.Fr.
Senecio jugicola S.Moore
Senecio psiadioides O.Hoffm.
Senecio roccatii Chiov.
Senecio scrophulariifolius O.Hoffm.
Senecio subcarnosulus De Wild.[1]

Description

Senecio maranguensis lives in the bamboo and forest clearings as a 2 meter tall woody shrub,[2] but can have a tendency to climb when growing in the forests, reaching to 6 meters tall.[3]

Stems and leaves
Long, leafy and flexible stems that are covered with soft fine or cobweb like hairs or hairless and are sometimes tinged purple or red. Leaves are leathery, oval with pointed tips 3 to 17 centimeters (1 to 6 inches) long and 1 to 6 centimeters (less than an inch and more than two inches) wide with teeth on the edges and not hairy except for on the midrib and main vein. The old leaves tend to wither and droop without falling off. The petiole is 2 to 3 millimeters long has sparse hairs or none at all.[3]
Flowers
"Capitula radiate"[3] or "flower heads with yellow ray florets".[2] Numerous flower heads that appear congested to lax in spreading terminal compound clusters that start at different places but end making a flat surface with the others. Flower stalks have hairs. Involcre is 3 to 5 millimeters long and about 2 millimeters in diameter. Pale to bright yellow ray florets and 4 veined spreading disc florets that turn red brown.[3]
Fruits
Ribbed achenes 2 millimeters long and without hairs. Pappus 3.5 millimeters long.[3]

Distribution

A common shrub in altitudes between 1,800 and 3,250 meters (5,900 to 10,700 feet) in Burundi, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Kenya, Malawi, Rwanda, Tanzania and Uganda including the Aberdare Mountains, the Ruwenzori Mountains and Kilimanjaro.[3]

References
  1. "Senecio maranguensis O.Hoffm. record n°98735". African Plants Database. South African National Biodiversity Institute, the Conservatoire et Jardin botaniques de la Ville de Genève and Tela Botanica. Retrieved 2008-05-08.
  2. H. Peter Linder and Berit Gehrke (2 March 2006). "Common plants of the Rwenzori, particularly the upper zones" (PDF). Institute for Systematic Botany, University of Zurich. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2008-05-30. Retrieved 2008-05-06.
  3. Aluka. "Entry for Senecio maranguensis O.Hoffm. [family COMPOSITAE]". African Plants. Ithaka Harbors, Inc. Retrieved 2008-05-11.
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