Pseudogynoxys chenopodioides
(Mexican flamevine)

Preferred Common Name

• Mexican flamevine

Other Scientific Names

• Gynoxys berlandieri DC.
• Senecio chenopodioides Kunth
• Senecio confusus Britten

International Common Names

• English: flame vine; orange-flowered senecio

Local Common Names

• Dominican Republic: bandera española; margarita australiana; margarita húngara
• El Salvador: canutillo
• Honduras: crespillo
• Lesser Antilles: fle jon; trinidad vine
• Mexico: golondrina; maloko; maluco; mamaluca

• Domain: Eukaryota
•     Kingdom: Plantae
•         Phylum: Spermatophyta
•             Subphylum: Angiospermae
•                 Class: Dicotyledonae
•                     Order: Asterales
•                         Family: Asteraceae
•                             Genus: Pseudogynoxys
•                                 Species: Pseudogynoxys chenopodioides

Pseudogynoxys is a Neotropical genus comprising about 14 species of scandent herbs. In previous treatments, Pseudogynoxys species were placed within the genus Senecio and treated as a subgenus. However, Pseudogynoxys species differ from Senecio in two main characters: they have a scandent habit, whereas Senecio is erect or nearly so; and they have sterile triangular to acuminate style branch appendages tipped by a fringe or tuft of papillae, not the common fertile truncate ones with a crown of papillae found in Senecio. Based on these differences, and subsequent phylogenetic analyses, Pseudogynoxys is now ranked as a separate genus (Pruski, 1996; Pelser et al., 2007; Davidse et al., 2018).

The following description is adapted from Acevedo-Rodríguez (2005):

Herbaceous vine, twining, 10-12 m in length. Stems striate, subcylindrical, glabrous or puberulous. Leaves alternate; blades 5-8 × 2.5-5 cm, lanceolate, membranaceous, the apex acuminate or acute, the base truncate, obtuse, or slightly cordiform, frequently unequal, the margins dentate-mucronate; upper surface dull, glabrous; lower surface dull, glabrous, with prominent venation; petioles 1.5-2.2 cm long. Capitula 2-6, pedunculate, in terminal corymbiform cymes; peduncles 2-5 cm long, puberulous; involucre crateriform, ca. 6 mm long, the phyllaries green, lanceolate, ca. 4 mm long. Disc flowers with yellow tubular corollas, 9-10 mm long; stigmatic branches yellow. Ray flowers with orange corollas, ligulate, the ligule elliptical, retuse at the apex, 2-2.5 cm long. Achenes turbinate, hispidulous, 4 mm long; pappus of numerous white bristles, 5-7 mm long, scabrous

Pseudogynoxys chenopodioides has been introduced as ornamental across tropical and subtropical region of the world. In the United States, it is widely cultivated as ornamental across Florida and Texas. In Florida, it was first recorded in 1939 and now can be found naturalized elsewhere along the Gulf Coast (Gordon et al., 2017; Flora of North America Editorial Committee, 2018).

Soil drainage

• free

Soil reaction

• neutral

Soil texture

• heavy
• light
• medium

Pseudogynoxys chenopodioides spreads by seed, which are adapted to wind-dispersal. In cultivation, it is also propagated by stem fragments (i.e. cuttings). The green, fleshy stems will root at the nodes when in contact with soil (Gilman, 1999).

Pseudogynoxys chenopodioides has become an environmental problem where it has escaped from cultivation and rapidly colonized new habitats along roadsides, forest edges, moist thickets and disturbed sites. This species is fast-growing and adapted to grow in moist and dry climates and in a wide range of soils types. Once established, P. chenopodioides grows extensively over all adjacent vegetation forming a dense blanket of stems and leaves that out-compete and shade-out native plant vegetation (Gilman, 1999; Acevedo-Rodríguez, 2005; Parker and Parson, 2011; Flowers of India, 2018; PIER, 2018). Currently, P. chenopodioides has been listed as invasive in Anguilla and Hawaii, and as potentially invasive in Florida and Galapagos Islands (Connor, 2008; Charles Darwin Foundation, 2018; PIER, 2018).

• Proved invasive outside its native range
• Has a broad native range
• Abundant in its native range
• Highly adaptable to different environments
• Is a habitat generalist
• Tolerates, or benefits from, cultivation, browsing pressure, mutilation, fire etc
• Pioneering in disturbed areas
• Tolerant of shade
• Highly mobile locally
• Benefits from human association (i.e. it is a human commensal)
• Long lived
• Fast growing
• Gregarious
• Reproduces asexually

• Monoculture formation
• Reduced native biodiversity
• Threat to/ loss of native species

• Competition - monopolizing resources
• Competition - shading
• Competition - smothering
• Competition - strangling
• Rapid growth
• Rooting

• Highly likely to be transported internationally accidentally
• Highly likely to be transported internationally deliberately
• Difficult to identify/detect as a commodity contaminant

Pseudogynoxys chenopodioides is widely cultivated as an ornamental plant for its showy flowers. It is also planted as ground cover and to cover fences and walls (Gilman, 1999; Flora of North America Editorial Committee, 2018; USDA-ARS, 2018).