String of Pearls (Senecio rowleyanus) is a beautiful hanging plant. It gets its name from its pearl-like round leaves. Native to the arid regions of Africa, this plant is a popular home decoration. Its long, slender vines are covered with tiny green pearls, making it a striking sight. This plant is 15 to 90 cm tall. This plant can easily survive on little water and is easy to care for. Therefore, it’s an excellent choice for indoor gardens or hanging pots. The floral formula and other information of this hanging plants is explained below –
Scientific Name: Senecio rowleyanus
Some Basic Information about String of Pearls plant (the hanging plants)
Habit: Perennial, trailing or creeping succulent herb, 15–90 cm long, delicate and hanging, forming dense chains of spherical leaves that resemble pearls
Root: Fibrous, shallow, arising from nodes when in contact with soil, adapted for quick water absorption
Stem: Slender, trailing or pendent, fleshy, green, smooth, and cylindrical, often branching freely to form long cascading strands
Leaf: Alternate, sessile, spherical to slightly pear-shaped, about 0.5–0.8 cm in diameter, bright green with a translucent “leaf window” along one side that allows light penetration for photosynthesis
Inflorescence: Terminal or axillary composite (capitulum) clusters borne on long peduncles, arising above foliage
Flower: Bracteate, complete, actinomorphic, bisexual, epigynous, creamy white and small with a ring of fused tubular florets, often emitting a faint cinnamon-like scent
Calyx: Sepals 5, united (gamosepalous), small and green, forming a short tubular base, imbricate aestivation
Corolla: Petals 5, united (gamopetalous), tubular with minute lobes, white or cream-colored, containing purple staminal appendages
Androecium: Stamens 5, epipetalous (attached to corolla tube), anthers syngenesious (fused), forming a tube around the style, typical of the family Asteraceae
Gynoecium: Ovary inferior, bicarpellary and syncarpous, unilocular with basal placentation; style slender, bifid at the apex with receptive stigmatic branches
Fruit: Cypsela (dry, one-seeded, indehiscent fruit)
Floral Formula: Br ⊕ ⚥ K(5) C(5) A(5) G(2̲)
Systematic Position
Division – Angiospermae
Class – Dicotyledonae
Order – Asterales
Family – Asteraceae
Genus – Senecio
Species – rowleyanus