Senecio triangularis Hook. is arrowleaf ragwort or arrowleaf groundsel. It remains in Senecio sensu stricto under current treatments, unlike some of its North American relatives that have been moved to Packera. It is a moist-meadow wildflower of the western North American mountains, not a succulent.
This page exists to disambiguate. Part of the Complete Senecio Guide.
What the plant actually is
- Erect perennial, 50–150 cm tall, sometimes taller in rich sites.
- Leaves alternate, triangular to arrowhead-shaped (hence the epithet), with coarsely toothed margins, 5–15 cm long, thin and non-succulent.
- Flower heads yellow, ray-bearing, in flat-topped clusters at the stem top.
- Rhizomatous, forming clumps in suitable habitat.
Native from British Columbia and Alberta south through the Rocky Mountains, Cascades, and Sierra Nevada to central California, New Mexico, and Arizona. Characteristic of wet meadows, streambanks, seeps, and open conifer forest in the montane to subalpine zones.
Why this is not a succulent
This plant is the opposite of a drought-adapted succulent. It grows in seasonally wet ground at 1,200–3,000 m elevation and depends on consistent summer moisture from snowmelt and mountain streams. The leaves are thin and the stems herbaceous; there is no water-storage tissue. Putting S. triangularis in a mineral succulent mix will kill it within weeks.
Brief care
- Cool summers, consistent moisture, partial shade.
- Rich humus-based soil that stays damp through the growing season.
- Hardy to USDA zone 3.
- Propagation by seed (cold-stratified) or by rhizome division in spring.
Outside its native range it is grown occasionally in cool-temperate woodland gardens and bog gardens. Not suitable for warm, dry, or Mediterranean conditions.
Notes
Contains pyrrolizidine alkaloids typical of the Senecio group and is toxic to livestock in chronic ingestion. Native pollinators including bumblebees and flies visit the flowers heavily in its montane habitat.
If you were expecting a succulent
A succulent with arrowhead-shaped leaves exists in the succulent Curio group: Curio kleiniiformis (spear head) has flat thickened arrowhead-silhouette leaves and genuinely is a succulent. Do not confuse the two. See:
- Senecio kleiniiformis — spear head, the true succulent with arrowhead leaves.
- Senecio rowleyanus — string of pearls.
- Complete Senecio Guide.
See also
- Senecio aureus — golden ragwort, another North American non-succulent.
- Senecio integerrimus — lambstongue ragwort.
- Senecio kleiniiformis — spear head, the succulent arrowhead-leaved species.