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Senecio mandraliscae (Kleinia) - Spreading succulent from South Africa that grows to 12 to 18 inches tall with 3- to 6-inch-long blue gray pencil-like fleshy leaves and small rayless dull white flowers in mid-summer. Forms a dense mat with leaves angled upward from the ground.
Plant in full sun to light shade in a well-draining soil. It is drought tolerant but tolerates regular irrigation and hardy to short duration temperatures down to around 15° F. This a great commonly used groundcover that looks its best when flowers are sheared off.
Recent treatment of this plant in the Royal Botanic Gardens Kew databases has the current name of this plant as Curio talinoides var. mandraliscae (Tineo) P.V.Heath but in the most current written reference we have available, The Illustrated Handbook of Succulent Plants: Dicotyledons edited by Urs Eggli (2002), the contributor for this section, Gordon Rowley, lists Senecio talinoides var. mandraliscae (Tenio) G.D. Rowley as the correct name but further notes that this is a "mysterious taxon, probably a hybrid". Since this plant has long been in the California nursery trade as Senecio mandraliscae, we continue to use this name until such time as the newer names become better recognized.
The name Senecio comes from the Latin word 'senex' meaning "old" or "old man" in reference to its downy head of seeds and the specific epithet honors the Count Enrico Mandralisca, an Italian nobleman, benefactor and art collector from Sicily. The genus name Curio means "to lean" in reference to several related species with a leaning or decumbent habit. Another name commonly used for this plant is chalk sticks. This plant is sometimes confused with the much smaller and less vigorous Senecio serpens. We also have a hybrid of this plant created by John Bleck that we call Senecio 'Jolly Gray' that was the result of a cross between it and Senecio ficoides.
This information about Senecio mandraliscae displayed is based on research conducted in our horticultural library and from reliable online resources. We also will relate observations made about it as it grows in our nursery gardens and other gardens we have visited, as well how the crops have performed in containers in our nursery field. We will also incorporate comments that we receive from others and we welcome hearing from anyone with additional information, particularly if they can share any cultural information that would aid others in growing it.
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