Barkleyanthus is a monotypic genus[3] of flowering plants in the aster family, Asteraceae, containing the single species Barkleyanthus salicifolius, a plant formerly classified in the genus Senecio.[4][5][6] It is native to North and Central America, where its distribution extends from the southwestern United States to El Salvador.[5] Its common names include willow ragwort,[6] willow groundsel, Barkley's-ragwort,[1] and jarilla.[3]

Barkleyanthus

Apparently Secure  (NatureServe)[1]
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Kingdom: Plantae
Clade: Tracheophytes
Clade: Angiosperms
Clade: Eudicots
Clade: Asterids
Order: Asterales
Family: Asteraceae
Subfamily: Asteroideae
Tribe: Senecioneae
Genus: Barkleyanthus
H.Rob. & Brettell
Species:
B. salicifolius
Binomial name
Barkleyanthus salicifolius
(Kunth) H.Rob. & Brettell
Synonyms[2]
  • Cineraria angustifolia Kunth
  • Cineraria dracunculoides Moc. & Sessé ex DC.
  • Cineraria salicifolia Kunth
  • Cineraria verna Mair. ex DC
  • Senecio axillaris Klatt
  • Senecio salignus DC.
  • Senecio vernus DC.
  • Senecio xarilla Sessé & Moc.

This plant is a shrub producing a branching stem usually about one to two meters tall, but known to exceed 4 meters at times. The leaves are roughly lance-shaped and are alternately arranged, sometimes more densely toward the ends of branches. They are up to 10 or 15 centimeters long. The inflorescence is often a wide array of several flower heads, but they may also be clustered in the leaf axils or branch tips. The head contains a few yellow ray florets, which are pistillate, and up to 25 or more yellow disc florets, which are bisexual. The fruit is a rough-textured, pyramidal or prism-shaped cypsela up to a centimeter long including its pappus of many barbed white bristles.[4]

This plant is abundant in parts of its range, particularly in Mexico, sometimes becoming weedy.[4] It flowers year-round, especially in spring,[4] and it may be in full flower at the end of the dry season.[3] It is admired for its yellow flower heads and is cultivated as an ornamental plant.[3][4]

The plant is used in Mexican traditional medicine to treat fever and rheumatism.[7] In Chiapas it is used as an insecticide in corn supplies.[7] Secondary metabolites isolated from the species include pyrrolizidine alkaloids, lactones, furoeremophilanes, and sesquiterpenes.[7]

References

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  1. ^ a b Barkleyanthus salicifolius.[permanent dead link] NatureServe. 2013.
  2. ^ "Barkleyanthus salicifolius". Plants of the World Online. Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew. 2022. Retrieved 2022-03-29.
  3. ^ a b c d de Vivar, A. R., et al. (2007). Secondary metabolites from Mexican species of the tribe Senecioneae (Asteraceae). Archived 2014-10-21 at the Wayback Machine Revista de la Sociedad Química de México 51(3), 160-72.
  4. ^ a b c d e Barkleyanthus salicifolius. Flora of North America.
  5. ^ a b "Barkleyanthus salicifolius". Germplasm Resources Information Network. Agricultural Research Service, United States Department of Agriculture. Retrieved 21 January 2018.
  6. ^ a b Barkleyanthus salicifolius. Integrated Taxonomic Information System (ITIS).
  7. ^ a b c González, C. P., et al. (2013). Anti-inflammatory activity and composition of Senecio salignus Kunth. BioMed Research International 2013.