Barkleyanthus
Barkleyanthus salicifolius syn senecio salignus.jpg

Apparently Secure (NatureServe)
Scientific classification
Kingdom:
Plantae
(unranked):
Angiosperms
(unranked):
Eudicots
(unranked):
Asterids
Order:
Asterales
Family:
Asteraceae
Tribe:
Senecioneae
Genus:
Barkleyanthus

H.Rob. & Brettell
Species:
B. salicifolius
Binomial name
Barkleyanthus salicifolius
(Kunth) H.Rob. & Brettell
Synonyms[1]
  • Cineraria salicifolia Kunth
  • Cacalia angustifolia Kunth
  • Monticalia angustifolia (Kunth) B.Nord.
  • Senecio humboldtianus DC.

Barkleyanthus is a monotypic genus[2] of flowering plants in the aster family, Asteraceae, containing the single species Barklyanthus salicifolius, a plant formerly classified in the genus Senecio.[3][4][5] It is native to North and Central America, where its distribution extends from the southwestern United States to El Salvador.[4] Its common names include willow ragwort,[5]willow groundsel, Barkley's-ragwort,[6] and jarilla.[2]

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.[3]

This plant is abundant in parts of its range, particularly in Mexico, sometimes becoming weedy.[3] It flowers year-round, especially in spring,[3] and it may be in full flower at the end of the dry season.[2] It is admired for its yellow flower heads and is cultivated as an ornamental plant.[2][3]

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

  1. ^ The Plant List, Barkleyanthus salicifolius (Kunth) H.Rob. & Brettell
  2. ^ 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.
  3. ^ a b c d e Barkleyanthus salicifolius. Flora of North America.
  4. ^ a b "Barkleyanthus salicifolius". Germplasm Resources Information Network (GRIN). Agricultural Research Service (ARS), United States Department of Agriculture (USDA). Retrieved 21 January 2018.
  5. ^ a b Barkleyanthus salicifolius. Integrated Taxonomic Information System (ITIS).
  6. ^ Barkleyanthus salicifolius. NatureServe. 2013.
  7. ^ a b c González, C. P., et al. (2013). Anti-inflammatory activity and composition of Senecio salignus Kunth. BioMed Research International 2013.