QUODITCH EDUCATION DEVON
 

 QUODITCH MOOR NATURE RESERVE

RAGWORT
(Senecio jacobaea)

(pictures taken on roadside in Cornwall)

There are many species of ragwort, but the common one found in profusion on roadsides is Senecio jacobaea.

At Quoditch we have only a few plants and we believe them to be Marsh Ragwort (Senecio aquaticus).

(Our thanks to Neil Sanderson of Southampton for helping us to identify this plant)

As you can see, the flowers are different from the common ragwort. Not only in shape but also in the fact that they do not cluster. It is not as poisonous as the common ragwort.

1998 was the worst summer in living memory for ragwort, thanks to the warm winter and the damp spring and summer. It is a highly toxic plant that slowly poisons cattle, sheep and horses.

August 17th. to the 24th. 1998 was National Ragwort Week and the British Horse Society was emphasising the dangers of ragwort to animals.

Ragwort acts slowly on the liver and digestive system and can take several years to kill an animal. It was declared as an injurious weed under the Weeds Act of 1959 and should be cleared and destroyed. The Ministry of Agriculture has the powers to have it removed from agricultural land, but a major problem is that it can be seen growing profusely at the roadside. To eliminate Ragwort is a huge task. The best way to remove it is by pulling out each plant individually and then burning it - not an easy job. In fact, the cost to the Highways Agency in 1999 to remove ragwort by hand from Britain's roads was half a million pounds, about £125,000 being spent in the South-west of England alone. English Nature have developed a machine (Ecopuller) that is trailed behind a tractor and can be used to pull out such plants as ragwort and thistles when the plant is higher than the surrounding vegetation.

 

When fresh, Ragwort can be too bitter to eat. When it is dry the taste is not as strong but the plant is still as poisonous, so the danger is that it can be picked up in a bale of hay and then fed to animals.

Each plant can produce up to one hundred and fifty thousand seeds which can remain dormant in the soil for up to twenty years and have a 70% germination rate.

However ragwort does have an its place in nature. Over two hundred species of insects feed on ragwort. It's an important source of nectar, especially for hoverflies. Ragwort is a vital food plant for the caterpillars of the Cinnibar Moth plant. They look like Cornish Rugby players , with yellow and black stripes.




 

Page last updated 13th June 2009

Ragwort Facts - an informative page about ragwort in the UK.

Visit the Cornwall County Council site about Ragwort

Cornwall County Council - Tis the season to pull Ragwort

Visit Ragwort - Myths and Facts - a very good and informative page about ragwort in the Netherlands

Buglife on Ragwort - Fact File

Buglife on Ragwort - Yellow Peril or Precious Flower?

PHOTOGRAPHS on this web site may be freely used for non-profitmaking educational purposes. For other uses please contact us.

Return to HOMEPAGE

Return to FLOWERS IN AUGUST

 Do call again soon