Senecio umbellatus

Senecio umbellatus is a wand-like perennial reaching 80 cm. Mainly hairless, the lower leaf surfaces may sometimes be slightly hairy.

The long, narrow leaves are thread-like or sometimes divided into linear lobes. Leaf margins are rolled under and minutely toothed, the tips acutely pointed.

The loose umbels of daisy flowerheads vary in ray floret colour from pink, magenta to occasionally white; the discs are small and yellow, raised above the rays. The two to three rows of narrow involucral bracts may be purple-tipped.

The distribution lies in the Western Cape and the southern Cape, slightly into the coastal part of the Eastern Cape. The habitat is moist sandstone flats and slopes. The species is not considered to be threatened in its habitat early in the twenty first century (Manning, 2007; Kidd, 1983; iNaturalist; http://redlist.sanbi.org).