Heath Groundsel

Senecio sylvaticus

Please keep in mind that it is illegal to uproot a plant without the landowner's consent and care should be taken at all times not to damage wild plants. Wild plants should never be picked for pleasure and some plants are protected by law.
For more information please download the BSBI Code of Conduct PDF document.

Plant Data

Flowering Months:

JAN FEB MAR APR MAY JUN JUL AUG SEP OCT NOV DEC

Order:

Asterales

Family:

Asteraceae (Daisy)

Also in this family:

Annual Sunflower, Autumn Hawkbit, Beaked Hawksbeard, Black Knapweed, Black-eyed Susan, Blanketflower, Blue Fleabane, Blue Globe-thistle, Bristly Oxtongue, Butterbur, Buttonweed, Canadian Fleabane, Canadian Goldenrod, Carline Thistle, Chalk Knapweed, Coltsfoot, Common Blue Sow-thistle, Common Cat's-ear, Common Daisy, Common Dandelion, Common Fleabane, Common Goldenrod, Common Groundsel, Common Michaelmas Daisy, Common Mugwort, Common Ragwort, Confused Michaelmas Daisy, Corn Marigold, Cornflower, Creeping Thistle, Dwarf Thistle, Early Goldenrod, Feverfew, Fox and Cubs, Goat's Beard, Greater Burdock, Greater Knapweed, Grey-headed Hawkweed, Hemp Agrimony, Hoary Ragwort, Lavender-cotton, Lesser Burdock, Lesser Hawkbit, Marsh Cudweed, Marsh Ragwort, Marsh Thistle, Mexican Fleabane, Mouse-ear Hawkweed, Musk Thistle, Narrow-leaved Ragwort, New England Hawkweed, Nipplewort, Oxeye Daisy, Oxford Ragwort, Perennial Cornflower, Perennial Sow-thistle, Pineapple Mayweed, Ploughman's Spikenard, Pot Marigold, Prickly Lettuce, Prickly Sow-thistle, Red-seeded Dandelion, Rough Hawkbit, Scented Mayweed, Scentless Mayweed, Sea Aster, Sea Mayweed, Seaside Daisy, Shaggy Soldier, Shasta Daisy, Shrub Ragwort, Silver Ragwort, Smooth Hawksbeard, Smooth Sow-thistle, Sneezeweed, Sneezewort, Spear Thistle, Sticky Groundsel, Tansy, Trifid Bur-marigold, Tyneside Leopardplant, Wall Lettuce, Winter Heliotrope, Yarrow

Type:

Flower

Maximum Size:

75 centimetres tall

Habitats:

Farmland, heathland, meadows, roadsides, sea cliffs, wasteland, woodland.

Flower:

Yellow, no petals

The yellow flowerheads are stalked, up to 5mm wide. The ray florets curl backwards, usually unlike those of the similar-looking shorter plant, Common Groundsel. The bracts are narrow and purple-tipped. Heath Groundsel flowerheads are more conical than those of Common Groundsel.

Fruit:

Ridged, brown and cylindrical achene with a pappus, up to 1 inch long.

Leaves:

An annual flower with narrowly lanceolate leaves and more deeply and irregular lobes than Common Groundsel. The leaves are alternate and short-stalked, however the upper leaves are stalkless. The leaf lobes are sparsely toothed and have entire margins. Heath Groundsel is a stickily downy plant.

Aroma:

Smells slightly foetid.

Other Names:

Mountain Common Groundsel, Mountain Groundsel, Wood Groundsel, Woodland Ragwort.

Frequency (UK):

Occasionally seen

Distribution Map

Reproduced by kind permission of the BSBI.

Click to open an Interactive Map