Senecio candidans 'Senaw' ANGEL WINGS

Senecio candidans 'Senaw' ANGEL WINGS

Archive entry 23.06.19

	A spectacular foliage Senecio, it has rather ordinary yellow flowers but the only time my plant felt inclined to produce them a slug saved me the stress of having to look at them. I got it from Madrona Nursery at the Hyde Hall Plant Fair, their label says: "Large leaves are silky and silver. New this year. Brlliant in a pot on its own or with other colours. To 2ft high. From Chile. Claimed to tolerate -10degC in winter." Plants of the World online says: "The native range of this species is S. Central & S. Chile to S. Argentina, Falkland Islands." It is a plant of the shore line, growing in coastal dunes. I planted it in a tall tub in a good layer of river shingle so that it would have some access to moisture but be dry around the crown and it has prospered, tolerating low temperatures well.

On 19th January 2017 newplantsandflowers.com wrote on their now defunct website:

" "Senecio Angel Wings is with its silky and siver-white colouring leaves a truly striking appearance" states Ron Hoogeveen from CNB New Plants, Netherlands. "It has a great trendy colour and is easy to grow." Angel Wings will be one of the novelties CBN New Plants will show at the German trade fair IPM 2017 (January 24 -27). Last year this Senecio candidans 'Senaw' ANGEL WINGS won a Bronze Medal at plantarium 2016. Judges of the Royal Boskoop Horiculture Society characterized the new variety as an attractive 'modern' plant; tub plant; and easy to combine with other plants. It is bred by Floricultura Novazel S.A. from ampa, Santiago, Chile.
The winter hardiness is indicated as US zone 6-9".
[I have made some minor corrections to the translated text].

The US Plant Patent (USPP28830P3 Dec 26, 2017) says:

"The present invention relates to a new and distinct cultivar of Senecio plant , botanically known as Senecio candicans 'Senaw' and will be referred to hereafter by its cultivar name , 'Senaw ' . The new cultivar represents a new dusty program by the Inventor at his nursery in Puerto Montt , Chile with the objective of selecting a new cultivars of Sencio candicans with unique leaf shapes and colors and seedlings in the summer of 2010 .
'Senaw ' has been shown to be readily propagated . The female parent of ‘ Senaw ' differs from 'Senaw' in having a slower growth habit and in having leaves that are less white in color with poorer color retention during the growth season and that differs in shape."

Footnote. There has been much confusion between the species Senecio candidans and Senecio candicans which even extends to the original patent. The South American species is called S.candidans.
Senecio candicans is a greyish leaved, scrabling sub-shrub/climber from India. Plants of the World online says: "The native range of this species is SW. India. It grows primarily in the seasonally dry tropical biome."
The similarity of the names has led to significant confusion both online and in the nursery trade . I am not aware of anybody bothering to grow S. candicans. Kew have not helped the situation by featuring an illustration on Plants of the World online that shows S. candidans clearly labelled as S. candicans.

References:

Plants of the World online, https://powo.science.kew.org/taxon/urn:lsid:ipni.org:names:244325-1 , accessed 22.03.2025.

Plants of the World online, https://powo.science.kew.org/taxon/urn:lsid:ipni.org:names:244324-1 , accessed 22.03.2025.

US Plant Patent USPP28830P3, https://patentimages.storage.googleapis.com/ea/df/95/d0bf31a326b1c0/USPP28830.pdf , accessed 22.03.2025.