| Senecio tamoides | |
|---|---|
| Creeping groundsel | |
| Scientific classification | |
| Kingdom: | Plantae |
| (unranked): | Angiosperms |
| (unranked): | Eudicots |
| (unranked): | Asterids |
| Order: | Asterales |
| Family: | Asteraceae |
| Tribe: | Senecioneae |
| Genus: | Senecio |
| Species: | S. tamoides |
| Binomial name | |
| Senecio tamoides DC. (1838)[1][2] |
|
Senecio tamoides or also known as Canary creeper (a name it shares with Senecio deltoideus Less.[3]) is a climbing member of the genus Senecio of the family Asteraceae.[4]
Scrambling[5] mostly evergreen[6] perennial, [5] creeping along the ground or climbing several meters into the trees.[4]
Stems and leaves: Stems are slender and hairless, up to 2 metres (6.6 ft) tall.[5]
Leaves are bright green, shaped like many ivy[6] with broad, oval and fleshy surfaces, 4 centimetres (1.6 in) long and 7 centimetres (2.8 in) wide, coarsely toothed edges, leaf stalks 2 centimetres (0.79 in) to 5 centimetres (2.0 in) long.[5]
Flowers: Inflorescence is a many-headed,[5] bright yellow,[6] and the flowering spike grows to have a flat top. The flower heads are cylindrical, about 3 millimetres (0.12 in) in diameter; surrounded with a whorl of five to seven bracts, 6 millimetres (0.24 in) to 7 millimetres (0.28 in) long which are surrounded by two to four smaller bracts or bracteoles. Three to six ray florets; each ligule approximately 1 centimetre (0.39 in) long; ten to twelve disc florets, 12 millimetres (0.47 in) to 15 millimetres (0.59 in) long.[5]
When cultivated in the gardens of the National Museums of Kenya, it has orange florets.[7]
Fruits and reproduction: Achenes about 2 millimetres (0.079 in) long, and not hairy; pappus 6 millimetres (0.24 in) to 7 millimetres (0.28 in) long. [5] It grows easily from stem cuttings.[6]
Along evergreen forest margins at altitudes of 300 metres (980 ft) to 1,900 metres (6,200 ft)[4] and in moist gullies.[5]