Senecio brasiliensis

Senecio brasiliensis
flor-das-almas
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Plantae
(unranked):	Angiosperms
(unranked):	Eudicots
(unranked):	Asterids
Order:	Asterales
Family:	Asteraceae
Tribe:	Senecioneae
Genus:	Senecio
Species:	S. brasiliensis
Binomial name
Senecio brasiliensis (Spreng.) Less.
Native range of S. brasiliensis.
Synonyms
Cineraria brasiliensis Spreng.[1] Senecio amabilis Vell. Senecio cannabinifolius Hook.& Arn. Senecio megapotamicus H. Buek Senecio tripartitus DC.[2]

Senecio brasiliensis or by its common name flor-das-almas,^[1] (flower-of-souls) a perennial species of Senecio genus and the family Asteraceae grows as a native in the fields and meadows of central South America.

Description

S. brasiliensis is a densely leafy perennial herb, 1 metre (3.3 ft) to 2 metres (6.6 ft) tall, with yellow flowers that prefers to make its home in degraded pasture lands and unploughed croplands in central South America.^[3][4]

Leaves and stems: S. brasiliensis stands very upright with a branched hairless and grooved stem. The leaves are alternate, pinnate and deeply lobed^[4] dark green on the top, whitish green on the underside.^[5] The lower part of the plant is smooth, while the upper part is hairy and the leaves cluster at the highest point with the flower stalks (corymbs).^[4]

Flowers: Yellow flowers dense on corymbs; two types of flowers (that look like [petal]s), disc florets with both male and female flowers and ray flowers which are simply female.^[4]

Seeds: Small seed with white hairs that use the wind to get around with.^[4]

Common Names

• English: Flower of souls, hempleaf ragwort
• Portuguese: malmequer-amarelo, Maria-mole, tasneirinha, flor-das-almas^[1][4][5][6]

• 

  A flowering stalk

• 

  native to fields and meadows

• 

  growing in an urban setting

• 

  growing in Rio Grande do Sul

Distribution

S. brasiliensis grows at elevations of 0 metres (0 ft) to 1,000 metres (3,300 ft).

Native: Argentina (mostly North Argentine Northwest and Gran Chaco), Bolivia, Brazil (mostly South Central), Paraguay, and Uruguay.^[1][2][4][6]

Current:

America

North America: Alabama, Florida^[6]

South America: Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Paraguay, Uruguay

Predators

• Phaedon confinis (Chrysomelidae)^[3]
• Atarsocoris brachiariae (Hemiptera: Cydnidae) -- Burrowing brown bug^[7]

References

1. ^ ^{a b c d} Germplasm Resources Information Network (GRIN) (1998-09-03). "Taxon: Senecio brasiliensis (Spreng.) Less.". Taxonomy for Plants. USDA, ARS, National Genetic Resources Program, National Germplasm Resources Laboratory, Beltsville, Maryland. http://www.ars-grin.gov/cgi-bin/npgs/html/taxon.pl?411769. Retrieved 2008-03-05. 
2. ^ ^{a b} Instituto Darwinion. "Asteraceae" (in Spanish) (PDF). Catálogo de las Plantas Vasculares de la República Argentina. II. Universidad de Buenos Aires. pp. 184, 188. http://www.darwin.edu.ar/Publicaciones/CatalogoVascII/CatalogoVascII.asp. Retrieved 2008-03-05. 
3. ^ ^{a b} Michelli Maria Mendes, Maysa de Lima Leite, Geovan Henrique Corrêa, Julianne Milléo (2005-04-20). "ENTOMOFAUNA ASSOCIATED WITH SENECIO BRASILIENSIS LESS (ASTERACEAE), AND PHAEDON CONFINIS (INSECTA; COLEOPTERA; CHRYSOMELIDAE) AS A POSSIBLE CONTROLLER AGENT OF THIS TOXIC PLANT" (in (Portuguese)) (PDF). http://www.uepg.br/propesp/publicatio/exa/2005_3/06.pdf. Retrieved 2008-03-05. "Phaedon confinis Klug, 1829 (Chrysomelidae) was the one that most stood out, specially because it was found in great numbers on the plant" 
4. ^ ^{a b c d e f g} Claudio Barros, Elissa Totin, Raquel Rech, Marcia Ilha, Steve Valeika (March 2001). "Senecio spp." (in (Portuguese)). Lista de Plantas. Universidade Federal de Santa Maria. http://www.vet.uga.edu/VPP/NSEP/toxic_plants/POR/Senecio/index.htm. Retrieved 2008-03-05. ^{[dead link]}
5. ^ ^{a b} Centro de Informação Toxicológica do Rio Grande do Sul. "Senecio brasiliensis Less. - Maria-mole" (in (Portuguese)). http://www.cit.rs.gov.br/v2/nova/?p=p_126. Retrieved 2008-03-06. 
6. ^ ^{a b c} Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS). "PLANTS Profile, Senecio cannabinifolius Hook. & Arn.". The PLANTS Database. United States Department of Agriculture,. http://plants.usda.gov/index.html. Retrieved 2008-03-06. 
7. ^ Oliveira Émerson D.M. de, Pasini Amarildo, Fonseca Inês C.B., ÉMerson D.M. de; Pasini, Amarildo; Fonseca, Inês C.B. (2003 January). "Association of the soil bug Atarsocoris sp. (Hemiptera: Cydnidae) with the weed Senecio brasiliensis Less". Neotropical Entomology (Sociedade Entomológica do Brasil) 32 (1): 155–157. doi:10.1590/S1519-566X2003000100024. 1519566X. http://www.scielo.br/scielo.php?script=sci_arttext&pid=S1519-566X2003000100024. Retrieved 2008-03-05. 

External links

Media related to Senecio brasiliensis at Wikimedia Commons Data related to Senecio brasiliensis at Wikispecies

• "Senecio cannabinifolius". Integrated Taxonomic Information System. http://www.itis.gov/servlet/SingleRpt/SingleRpt?search_topic=TSN&search_value=36108. Retrieved 6 March 2008. 
• "Herbarium record". Neotropical Herbarium Specimens. fieldmuseum.org. http://fm1.fieldmuseum.org/vrrc/?page=view&id=7247. Retrieved 2008-04-22. 
• Gustavo H. Shimizu (2006-09-30). "Image of Senecio brasiliensis". http://www.plantsystematics.org/cgi-bin/dol/dol_image_frame.pl?image_id=27016&image_file=http://www.PlantSystematics.org/users/sv22/1_31_07/Senecio_brasiliensis.jpg&family=Asteraceae&genus=Senecio&species=brasiliensis. Retrieved 2008-03-06.