Senecio vulgaris L.

Common Groundsel; Old Man in the Spring

Herb

Annual

Vascular

Common Groundsel is an introduced herbaceous annual in the Sunflower family (Asteraceae). It is native to Europe. In Alabama it can be found state-wide. Common Groundsel occurs in fields, in cemeteries, along railroad tracks, in flower beds, in nurseries, and in disturbed urban areas such as in cracks in pavement. It is an annual with a tap root. Stems are erect, green or purplish-red at the base in color, usually glabrous, and up to 16 inches in height. The leaves are petiolate (upper leaves are sessile), ovate to oblanceolate in outline, lobed and toothed along the margins, and glabrous or sparsely and unevenly pubescent with long white hairs. Flowers are produced in cylindric heads. The heads are arranged in loose corymbs. The heads are subtended by a prominent ring of black-tipped bracts (calyculi). Each head has 21 phyllaries, no ray flowers, and 13-80 yellow disc flowers. The fruit is a 5-ribbed cylindrical achene with a tuft of white pappus. Common Groundsel is a host for Theliaviopsis basicola, the fungus responsible for black root rot disease in many crops including peas, soybeans, carrots, tomatoes, and cucumbers. Common Groundsel contains pyrrolizidine alkaloids that can cause liver damage in humans and livestock when consumed.—A. Diamond

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Not Native FACU (NWPL)

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