Common Ragwort (Jacobaea vulgaris)

Ragwort (Jacobaea vulgaris, syn. Senecio jacobaea) is a very common wild flower in the family Asteraceae that is native to northern Eurasia, usually in dry, open places, and has also been widely distributed as a weed elsewhere.

Alternative names include Cushag (Isle of Man), Buachalán Buí (Ireland) or Benweed, Tansy Ragwort, St. James-wort, Ragweed, Stinking Nanny/Ninny/Willy, Staggerwort, Dog Standard, Cankerwort, Stammerwort and Mare's Fart. In the western US it is generally known as "Tansy Ragwort", or even more confusingly "Tansy", though its resemblance to the true tansy is superficial at best. This is a potentially dangerous misuse of names, since the true tansy has been used for culinary purposes.

Ragwort is foodplant for the larvae of Cochylis atricapitana, Phycitodes maritima, and Phycitodes saxicolais. Ragwort is best known as the food of caterpillars of the Cinnabar moth Tyria jacobaeae. They absorb alkaloids from the plant and become distasteful to predators, a fact advertised by the black and yellow warning colours. The red and black, day-flying adult moth is also distasteful to many potential predators. The moth is used as a control for ragwort in countries in which it has been introduced and become a problem, like New Zealand and the western United States. In both countries, the ragwort flea beetle (Longitarsus jacobaeae) has been introduced to combat the plant.

Description taken from Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Senecio_jacobaea

• Biota
• Life
• Vitae
• Eukaryota
• Plantae
• Plants
• Magnoliophyta
• Flowering Plants
• Angiosperms
• Magnoliopsida
• Dicotyledons
• Asteraceae
• Asterales
• Asters
• Compositae
• Daisies
• Sunflowers
• Jacobaea
• Jacobaea vulgaris
• Common Ragwort

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