Senecio vernalis, Waldst. & Kit.

Tutin, T. G., Heywood, V. H., Burges, N. A., Moore, D. M., Valentine, D. H., Walters, S. M. & Webb, D. A., 1976, Flora Europaea. Volume 4. Plantaginaceae to Compositae (and Rubiaceae), Cambridge University Press : 204

60. S. vernalis Waldst. & Kit. , Pl. Rar. Hung. 1: 23 (1800).

Erect annual up to 50 cm, unbranched or with suberect branches above. Young stems and leaves usually arachnoid-lanate, but variably glabrescent at maturity. Basal leaves oblong in outline, more or less pinnatifid with wide, dentate rhachis, petiolate; middle and upper cauline similar in shape, but amplexicaul with dentate auricles. Capitula 20-25 mm in diameter in a laxly subcorymbose, terminal inflorescence. Involucral bracts 8-10 mm, glabrous, concolorous or black-tipped; supplementary bracts several, up to 3 mm, usually black-tipped. Ligules c. 13, c. 10 mm, yellow. Achenes 2-3 mm, appressed-hairy. 2/7 = 40. Cultivated and waste ground and open, sandy or stony habitats. Native in E. & E. C. Europe; introduced in the nineteenth century to W.C. & W. Europe and Fennoscandia, and still extending its range. Al Au Bu Gr Hu Ju Po Rm Rs (B, C, W, K, E) Tu [Be Cz Da Ga Ge He Ho No Su].

Although typical plants are very different in habit from 59 there are no clear characters unequivocally separating the two species, andthe taxonomic position of some populations in parts of S. & E. Europe is very uncertain.