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| Senecio | |
|---|---|
| Name | Senecio |
| Regnum | Plantae |
| Unranked divisio | Angiosperms |
| Unranked classis | Eudicots |
| Unranked ordo | Asterids |
| Ordo | Asterales |
| Familia | Asteraceae |
| Genus | Senecio |
Senecio Senecio is a large and historically broad genus of flowering plants in the family Asteraceae that has been revised repeatedly by taxonomists. Botanists from institutions such as the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, the Missouri Botanical Garden, and the New York Botanical Garden have split and reclassified many species, affecting floras in regions covered by the Flora of China, the Flora of North America, and the Flora Europaea. Conservation agencies like the IUCN and herbaria at the Natural History Museum, London track species-level changes driven by molecular studies from groups including researchers at the Smithsonian Institution and the Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh.
Historically circumscribed by taxonomists such as Carl Linnaeus, the genus was a catch-all in early works compiled in institutions like the Linnean Society of London and the Royal Society. 20th- and 21st-century revisions by experts affiliated with the International Botanical Congress, the American Society of Plant Taxonomists, and universities including Oxford University, University of California, Berkeley, and University of Melbourne used morphological and molecular characters to segregate genera. Molecular phylogenies employing markers developed in laboratories at Harvard University Herbaria, the Max Planck Institute, and Kew resulted in transfers to genera such as Jacobaea, Packera, Roldana, Senecio s.s. being narrowed, and proposals debated in journals like Taxon and the American Journal of Botany.
Species formerly placed in the genus exhibit a range of growth forms documented in floristic treatments from the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew and the Botanical Society of Britain and Ireland: herbs, shrubs, climbers, and succulents found in keys prepared by botanists at Cornell University and the University of California, Davis. Vegetative characters described in manuals used by field botanists from the California Academy of Sciences and the Natural History Museum, Vienna include alternate leaves, capitula with ray and disk florets, and pappus structures referenced in monographs by researchers at the Smithsonian Institution. Inflorescence architecture and achene morphology used in dichotomous keys from the Missouri Botanical Garden and the Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh remain important for species delimitation.
Species formerly attributed to the genus occur on multiple continents recorded in regional checklists such as the Atlas of Living Australia, the European Environment Agency's plant datasets, and national floras like the Flora of Australia, the Flora of South Africa, and the Flora of New Zealand. Populations inhabit ecosystems described by conservation programs at the United Nations Environment Programme, including montane regions like the Andes, island floras such as the Canary Islands, Mediterranean-climate regions including California and the Mediterranean Basin, and arid zones mapped by the World Wildlife Fund's ecoregions. Records in herbaria at the Field Museum and the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew document occurrences in grasslands, scrublands, alpine meadows, and disturbed soils near urban centers mapped by the Global Biodiversity Information Facility.
Interactions with pollinators have been reported in ecological studies from universities like University of Cambridge and University of British Columbia showing visits by insects cataloged in surveys by the Royal Entomological Society, including bees (records linked to the International Union for Conservation of Nature pollinator assessments), flies, beetles, and butterflies documented in works from the Linnean Society of London. Some species provide larval host resources for Lepidoptera recorded by the Natural History Museum, London and the Monarch Watch network; other species influence plant communities noted in restoration projects coordinated by the National Park Service and the European Commission. Seed dispersal mechanisms involving the pappus have been modeled in studies at the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution and the US Geological Survey for wind-dispersal dynamics.
Many species historically placed in the genus produce pyrrolizidine alkaloids identified in phytochemical surveys conducted by laboratories at University of Münster, University of Vienna, and Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine. Toxicity to livestock and humans has led to assessments by veterinary services such as the United States Department of Agriculture and food-safety agencies like the European Food Safety Authority. Cases documented in veterinary literature from the Royal Veterinary College and clinical reports in journals associated with World Health Organization guidelines highlight hepatotoxicity and implicated species in poisoning incidents reported in regional databases maintained by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Horticultural use has been promoted by gardens and nurseries including the Royal Horticultural Society, the Chelsea Flower Show, and botanical gardens such as Kew Gardens and the New York Botanical Garden, which feature showy members and succulents in collections. Traditional medicinal uses are recorded in ethnobotanical surveys compiled by institutions like the Smithsonian Institution and the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew's economic botany unit, while modern pharmacological screenings at University College London and the National Institutes of Health have evaluated bioactive compounds. Some species are considered weeds managed by agricultural agencies such as the United States Department of Agriculture and invasive-species programs run by the European Commission and the Invasive Species Specialist Group.
Taxonomic treatments split former inclusions into segregate genera recognized by databases hosted by Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, Missouri Botanical Garden, Tropicos, and the International Plant Names Index. Notable segregates and related taxa discussed in floras include Jacobaea vulgaris (formerly included), Packera aurea, Roldana petasitis, and succulent taxa treated in works from the South African National Biodiversity Institute. Hybridization events and cultivar development have been recorded by horticultural societies such as the Royal Horticultural Society and breeders affiliated with universities like Cornell University and University of California, Davis.
Category:Asteraceae genera