Senecio georgianus DC. (1838:371)

Grey groundsel, Grey fireweed

Taxonomy & Nomenclature

Synonym/s: Erechtites candicans Hook.f. in London J. Bot. 6: 122 (1847)

"distinguished from closely related taxa by the narrow-lanceolate leaves, numerous florets (up to 40) and the usually tomentose indumentum"

(Silcock et al., 2019:SM:4)

Conservation Status

Missing (Silcock et al., 2019:SM:4 [as 'Possibly extinct']) or Extinct (Keith et al., 1997:64; Albani Rocchetti et al., 2022; POWO, 2023; Christenhusz & Govaerts, 2024)

Last record (disputed): 1854 (collection) (Silcock et al., 2019:SM:4); 1859 (Christenhusz & Govaerts, 2024); 1970's?

"Presumed extinct…but previously widespread and not showy + some temporal rarity, so could still be out there…but there has been lots of searching"

(Silcock et al., 2019:SM:4)

Distribution & Habitat

N.S.W., Tasmania & Victoria (& South Australia?), Australia

Former distribution included South Australia according to (POWO, 2023).

"Drainage lines in grassland and woodland and grassy subalpine areas; prefers fertile, frequently disturbed habitats"

(Silcock et al., 2019:SM:4)

Biology & Ecology

Hypodigm

Media

References

Original scientific description:

de Candolle, A. P. (1838). Prodromus Systematis Naturalis Regni Vegetabilis. 6: 371.

Other references:

Albani Rocchetti, Giulia, Carta, Angelino, Mondoni, Andrea, Godefroid, Sandrine, Davis, Charles C., Caneva, Giulia, Albrecht, Matthew A., Alvarado, Karla, Bijmoer, Roxali, Borosova, Renata, Bräuchler, Christian, Breman, Elinor, Briggs, Marie, Buord, Stephane, Cave, Lynette H., Da Silva, Nílber Gonçalves, Davey, Alexandra H., Davies, Rachael M., Dickie, John B., Fabillo, Melodina, Fleischmann, Andreas, Franks, Andrew, Hall, Geoffrey, Kantvilas, Gintaras, Klak, Cornelia, Liu, Udayangani, Medina, Leopoldo, Reinhammar, Lars Gunnar, Sebola, Ramagwai J., Schönberger, Ines, Sweeney, Patrick, Voglmayr, Hermann, White, Adam, Wieringa, Jan J., Zippel, Elke Zippel and Abeli, Thomas. (2022). Selecting the best candidates for resurrecting extinct-in-the-wild plants from herbaria. Nature Plants 8: 1385-1393. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41477-022-01296-7 [Supplementary Tables S1-S6]

Christenhusz, Maarten J. M. and Govaerts, Rafaël. (2023). Uitgestorven. Op plantenjacht rond de wereld: 1-511. Sterck & De Vreese.

Christenhusz, Maarten J. M. and Govaerts, Rafaël. (2024). Plant extinction in the Anthropocene. Botanical Journal of the Linnean Society. https://doi.org/10.1093/botlinnean/boae045 [Appendix S1]

de Salas, M. F. and Baker, M. L. (2022). A Census of the Vascular Plants of Tasmania, including Macquarie Island: 1-161. Tasmanian Herbarium, Tasmanian Museum and Art Gallery, Hobart.

Hnatiuk, R.J. (1990). Census of Australian vascular plants. Australian Flora and Fauna Series 11: 1-650.

Hooker, J. D. (1847). Florae Tasmaniae Spiciligeum, or contributions towards a flora of Van Dieman’s Land London Journal of Botany 6: 106-125 [122].

Hooker, J.D. (1858). The Botany of the Antarctic Voyage of H.M. Discovery Ships Erebus and Terror. Part III. Flora Tasmaniae Volume II. Monocotyledones and Acotyldones. Lovell Reeve, London.

Humphreys, Aelys M., Govaerts, Rafaël, Ficinski, Sarah Z., Lughadha, Eimear Nic and Vorontsova, Maria S. (2019). Global dataset shows geography and life form predict modern plant extinction and rediscovery. Nature Ecology & Evolution 3: 1043-1047. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41559-019-0906-2 [Supplementary Dataset 1]

Keith, David A., Chalson, Jane M. and Auld, Tony D. (1997). Assessing the status of threatened plants: A new methodology and an application to the vascular flora of New South Wales. Project No. 450, Endangered Species Program. Canberra: Biodiversity Group, Environment Australia.

Marchant, N. G. and Keighery, G. J. (1979). Poorly collected and presumably rare vascular plants of Western Australia. Kings Park Research Notes No. 5. West Perth: Kings Park and Botanic Garden. 103 pp. [p. 93]

POWO. (2023). Senecio georgianus DC. Plants of the World Online (online resource). Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, United Kingdom. Available at: https://powo.science.kew.org/ [Accessed 8 December 2023]

Roskov Y. et al. (eds.). (2018). Species 2000 & ITIS Catalogue of Life Naturalis, Leiden, the Netherlands.

Silcock, Jen L., Field, Ashley R., Walsh, Neville G. and Fensham, Roderick J. (2019). To name those lost: assessing extinction likelihood in the Australian vascular flora. Oryx 54(2): 167-177. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0030605318001357 [Supplementary Material]

Thompson, I. R. (2015). 9. Senecio, pp. 209-307 [244-245]. In: Wilson, Annette (ed.). Flora of Australia Volume 37, Asteraceae 1. Melbourne: ABRS/CSIRO Australia. xxii + 638 pp.

I.R.Thompson (2017). Senecio georgianus. In: Flora of Australia. Australian Biological Resources Study, Department of the Environment and Energy, Canberra. https://profiles.ala.org.au/opus/foa/profile/Senecio%20georgianus [Date Accessed: 13 January 2020]

Walter, Kerry S. and Gillett, Harriet J. (eds.). (1998). 1997 IUCN Red List of Threatened Plants. Compiled by the World Conservation Monitoring Centre. Gland, Switzerland & Cambridge, UK: IUCN – The World Conservation Union. lxiv + 862 pp.

Wapstra, Mark. (2010). The status of Senecio georgianus (grey fireweed) in Tasmania. The Tasmanian Naturalist 132: 9-14.

Wapstra, Mark, Thompson, I. R. and Buchanan, A. M. (2008). An illustrated and annotated key to the Tasmanian species of Senecio (Asteraceae). Kanunnah 3: 49-93.

Woinarski, John C. Z., Braby, M. F., Burbidge, A. A., Coates, D., Garnett, S. T., Fensham, R. J., Legge, S. M., McKenzie, N. L., Silcock, J L. and Murphy, B. P. (2019). Reading the black book: The number, timing, distribution and causes of listed extinctions in Australia. Biological Conservation 239: 108261. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.biocon.2019.108261

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