Jacobaea maritima (L.) Pelser & Meijden, syn. Senecio cineraria DC., is silver ragwort or dusty miller. It is a Mediterranean semi-woody perennial, widely grown as an annual bedding plant in colder climates for its finely cut silver-white foliage. It is not a succulent: the leaves are tomentose but thin, with no water-storing tissue worth the name, and the plant dies in a few days of drought that would not bother a real succulent.
Recent taxonomy moves the species to Jacobaea, though nursery and catalogue listings overwhelmingly still use Senecio cineraria. Native to rocky Mediterranean coasts. Part of the Complete Senecio Guide.
Why this page exists
Shoppers and gardeners sometimes arrive looking for "senecio cineraria care" expecting succulent treatment, or confuse it with the genuinely silver-leaved succulent Senecio haworthii or the cultivar Senecio candicans 'Angel Wings'. This page is a short disambiguation rather than a full cultivation guide.
Identification
- Woody-based perennial to 60 cm tall.
- Leaves pinnately cut into narrow silver-white lobes, covered in dense tomentum; 5–15 cm long.
- Capitula yellow, ray-bearing, in flat-topped clusters in summer.
- Leaves are thin, not fleshy. A cut leaf shows flat non-storage tissue, unlike any true succulent.
Distinguished from S. candicans 'Angel Wings' by the deeply cut fern-like leaves (candicans has broad unlobed leaves). Distinguished from S. haworthii by the flat leaf form; S. haworthii has cylindrical woolly fingers.
Brief care
- Full sun, average garden soil, moderate water.
- Treated as an annual in USDA zones below 8; as a short-lived perennial in zones 8–10.
- Cut back in early spring if overwintered.
- Prone to mildew in humid, still conditions; thrives with air movement.
Full cultivation advice for silver ragwort is outside the scope of a succulent website; consult a general-purpose perennial reference.
If you were looking for a silver succulent
The true silver-leaved succulent Senecios are:
- Senecio candicans 'Angel Wings' — broad palm-sized silver-white leaves.
- Senecio haworthii — cocoon plant, silver cylindrical leaves.
- Senecio mandraliscae — blue chalksticks, waxy pale-blue cylindrical leaves.
Any of these will respond to the cultivation regime in the Complete Senecio Guide; S. cineraria will not.
Notes
Moderately toxic to livestock through the pyrrolizidine alkaloid burden shared with the broader Senecio group. Not a serious risk for ornamental garden use, but grazing animals should not have access.
See also
- Senecio candicans — the wild parent of 'Angel Wings'.
- Senecio haworthii — true woolly succulent.
- Senecio vulgaris — common groundsel, another non-succulent Senecio in the trade.