Senecio perdicioides Hook. f.

An evergreen shrub of bushy habit up to 6 ft or more high; young shoots slender, slightly ribbed. Leaves oblong or slightly obovate, rounded at the apex, tapered at the base; numerously toothed, 1 to 2 in. long, less than half as wide, dull green and glabrous; stalk slender, up to 1⁄2 in. long. Inflorescence a flattish or slightly rounded, terminal, erect, many branched corymb, 3 to 6 in. wide. Flower-heads small, 3⁄8 in. long and as much wide, funnel-shaped; ray-florets two or three, bright yellow; disk-florets four to eight.

Native of North Island, New Zealand; discovered by Sir Joseph Banks and Solander when with Cook on his first voyage to New Zealand (1769–70), and not recorded again until found by Archdeacon Williams in 1870. It was grown by Major A. A. Dorrien-Smith at Tresco Abbey, Scilly; at Ludgvan Rectory in Cornwall; and Mrs Vereker, Sharpiton, S. Devon, sent it in flower to Kew in 1922. It is not likely to succeed out-of-doors except in these and similarly mild localities. It flowers during December in New Zealand, during June and July in England.

S. perdicioides Hook. f. × S. Dunedin Hybrids – An evergreen shrub of bushy habit up to 6 ft high and 9 ft across, much-branched; young shoots white-felted. Leaves ovate or elliptic, blunt at the apex and base, finely toothed, 1 to 31⁄2 in. long, 1⁄2 to 13⁄4 in. wide, yellowish green above, white- or brownish-felted beneath. Inflorescences like those of S. perdicioides but flower-heads rather larger; flower-stalks and scales of involucre thinly felted, also glandular-hairy; ray-florets five to seven, bright yellow.

A garden hybrid, known from Tresco Abbey, Scilly; Glasnevin; and The Gardens, Ilnacullin, Glengariff, Co. Cork; it is also cultivated in New Zealand.