Citation: L., Sp. Pl. 2:869 (1753).

Synonymy: Not Applicable

Common name: Purple groundsel, purple ragwort.

Description:
Annual herb, 15-40 cm high, subglabrous; simple to much-branched; branches stout, ascending; leaves broadly auriculate-clasping, 4-7 x 1-2 cm, subpetiolate, pinnately sinuate-lobate, lobes toothed or lobulate, leaves distally reduced to lobulate or subentire clasping bracts.

Inflorescence cymose, of 1-6 capitula per branch; peduncles 1-4 rarely 6 cm long; involucre cylindrical, 7-8 x c. 5 mm; bracts 12-15; calyculus of 8-12 broad-lanceolate black-tipped bracteoles with ciliate margins; ray florets 12-17, ligules to 10 x 4.5 mm, 4-nerved, reddish-purple to bluish-red; disk florets more than 50, reddish.

Achenes to 2.5 mm long, slightly bowed, strongly ribbed, with short appressed whitish hairs between the ribs, greenish to brownish; pappus dimorphic, deciduous.

Distribution:  S.Aust.: MU, YP, SL, SE.   W.Aust.; N.S.W.: Vie.; Tas.   New Zealand; native of South Africa. Escaped from cultivation and established along the coastal dunes and heaths. Conservation status: native Flowering time: Oct. — Feb.

SA Distribution Map based on current data relating to specimens held in the State Herbarium of South Australia

Biology: No text

Author: Not yet available