Alice Springs Flora •
Alice Springs FloraAlice Springs Flora Index Acacia ligulata Annual Yellowtop Apple Bush Bougainvillea Burdekin Plum Carob Tree (Ceratonia siliqa) Cattle Bush Desert Cotton (Aerva javanica) Desert Oak Eremophila Wildberry Feijoa sellowiana Flannel Cudweed Fork-leaf Corkwood Ghost Gum Golden Everlasting Kurrajong Lemon-flowered Gum MacDonnell’s Desert Fuchsia Native Bluebell Native Tomato Needlewood Olive Tree Perennial Yellow Top Rat’s Tail River Red Gum Inland River Red Gum Rosy Dock Round-leaved Mallee Scurvy Grass Silky Eremophila Stemodia viscosa Striped Mintbush Sturt’s Desert Pea Sturt’s Desert Rose Tangled Leschenaultia Tar Vine Weeping Bottlebrush White Cedar Yellow Billybutton Yellow-keeled Swainsona Yellow Oleander
The Perennial Yellow Top (Senecio magnificus) has a number of common names, from Tall Yellow-top, Showy Groundsel and Camel Weed, to name just a few.
From the genus Senecio, that includes groundsels, ragworts and cineraria.
Senecio is derived from the Latin name senex (meaning old man), in reference to the white pappus. The Latin magnificus meaning “magnificent”.
A herbaceous, to softwood shrub that often grows up to 1.5 metres in height. It has bright yellow flowers, with a deep yellow centre. Leaves tend to be fleshy, alternating up the stems, the leaf is flatish, hairless, glaucous (bluish-green), margins are toothed to entire (smooth edges).
They grow in semi arid areas (sandy and clay soils) through New South Wales, Victoria, South Australia and the Northern Territory. Found in a variety of areas from alluvial flats, along sandy riverbeds and creeklines, drainage depressions and other disturbed areas. Seen growing around Alice Springs, from along the banks of the Todd River and dry creek beds to the wild spaces along the base of the ranges.
They are a short lived perennial that emerge after winter or spring rains.
Common name
Perennial Yellow Top, Tall Yellow-top, Showy Groundsel and Camel Weed.
- Scientific classification
- Kingdom: Plantae
- Phylum: Charophyta
- Class: Equisetopsida
- Subclass: Magnoliidae
- Superorder: Asteranae
- Order: Asterales
- Family: Asteraceae
- Genus: Senecio
- Species: Senecio magnificus
Footnote & References
- Senecio magnificus, Camel Weed, Atlas of Living Australia, https://bie.ala.org.au/species/https://id.biodiversity.org.au/node/apni/2915584
Alice Springs FloraAlice Springs Flora Index Acacia ligulata Annual Yellowtop Apple Bush Bougainvillea Burdekin Plum Carob Tree (Ceratonia siliqa) Cattle Bush Desert Cotton (Aerva javanica) Desert Oak Eremophila Wildberry Feijoa sellowiana Flannel Cudweed Fork-leaf Corkwood Ghost Gum Golden Everlasting Kurrajong Lemon-flowered Gum MacDonnell’s Desert Fuchsia Native Bluebell Native Tomato Needlewood Olive Tree Perennial Yellow Top Rat’s Tail River Red Gum Inland River Red Gum Rosy Dock Round-leaved Mallee Scurvy Grass Silky Eremophila Stemodia viscosa Striped Mintbush Sturt’s Desert Pea Sturt’s Desert Rose Tangled Leschenaultia Tar Vine Weeping Bottlebrush White Cedar Yellow Billybutton Yellow-keeled Swainsona Yellow Oleander
Alice Springs FaunaAlice Springs Native Bees Alice Springs Beetles Alice Springs Birds Alice Springs Gastropods (Gastropoda) Alice Springs Insects Alice Springs Marsupials Alice Springs Reptiles Alice Springs Spiders