Suomi
Svenska
Woodland ragwort
Senecio sylvaticus
Identify the Woodland ragwort from a photo and log your finds with Florapass.
Coming soon to the App Store and Google Play.
Woodland ragwort is a slender, short‑lived plant with many small yellow flower heads in loose clusters. It turns up on disturbed, open ground such as clearings, rocky places, roadsides and waste lots. It is native to Europe and has spread widely elsewhere, including North America.
Did you know?
- The outer petals are so short and often curled that the flower heads can look almost petal‑less.
- It can hybridise with common groundsel and sticky groundsel.
About the species
Identification
Annual 20–50 cm tall. Upright, grooved stem with short hairs, usually unbranched low down and branching near the top. Leaves thin and often lobed; lower ones with short stalks, upper ones sit on the stem and partly wrap around it; edges have a few teeth. Flower heads small and narrow (about 5 mm), in a loose cluster; the green scales beneath each head are in a single row and often dark‑tipped. Outer petals are very short and often rolled, sometimes absent. Seeds are small, brown, with a silky white tuft. Slimmer heads and looser clusters than common groundsel; not sticky like sticky groundsel. Flowers in Finland from July to September.
Plant group
Herbaceous plants
Habitat
rock
Flowering
Jul–Sep
About the habitat
Open, disturbed places with bare or sandy soil: rocky ground, clearings and burn sites, fields, roadsides, embankments, sand pits and waste ground. Often favors nutrient‑rich spots. Southwest Finland and the south coast; rarer inland; only occasional further north.
Sources
Photo: AnRo0002, CC0 https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:20140703Senecio sylvaticus06.jpg
Text: Pinkka: A Pohjolan kasveja - Saxifraga-Silene, CC BY 4.0 https://laji.fi/taxon/MX.39860
Text: Wikipedia (Finnish), CC BY-SA 4.0 https://fi.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kalliovillakko
