The genus Senecio, with some 1000 species, is practically cosmopolitan.
At first sight a South African Euphorbia might be mistaken for a South American Cactus, an Aloe for an A gave, a Senecio for ivy, or a New Zealand Veronica for a European Salicornia.
The only trees or shrubs in this zone are the giant Senecio (groundsel) and Lobelia, and tree-heaths, the Senecio forming groves in the upper valleys.
Among the first wild shrubs and trees that are met with are the chilca (Baccharis Feuillei), with a pretty yellow flower, the Mutisia acuminata, with beautiful red and orange flowers, several species of Senecio, calceolarias, the Schinus molle, with its graceful branches and bunches of red berries, and at higher elevations the lambras (Alnus acuminata), the sauco (Sambucus peruviana), the quenuar (Buddleia incana), and the Polylepis racemosa.
His life, in the form of a warm panegyric, written at his widow's request by Herennius Senecio, caused its author's death in the reign of Domitian.