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Jacobaea vulgaris
Also called Stinking Willie, Tansy Ragwort, St. James' Wort, Jacobaea, Staggerwort, Tansy, Ragwort
Common ragwort is a wild yellow-flowered plant of the daisy family, native to northern Eurasia and common on waste ground, roadsides and pastures. It is usually biennial and is best known as a toxic weed that is dangerous to grazing animals.
Jacobaea vulgaris, synonym 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.
Common names include ragwort, common ragwort, stinking willie, tansy ragwort, benweed, cushag, St. James-wort, stinking nanny/ninny/willy, staggerwort, dog standard, cankerwort, stammerwort. In the western United States it is generally known as tansy ragwort, or tansy, though its resemblance to the true tansy is superficial.
Ragwort contains many different alkaloids, making it poisonous to many animals. (EHC 80, section 9.1.4). Alkaloids which have been found in the plant confirmed by the WHO report EHC 80 are jacobine, jaconine, jacozine, otosenine, retrorsine, seneciphylline, senecionine, and senkirkine (p. 322 Appendix II). There is a strong variation between plants from the same location in distribution between the possible alkaloids and even the absolute amount of alkaloids varies drastically.
Ragwort is of particular concern to people who keep horses and cattle. In areas of the world where ragwort is a native plant, such as Britain and continental Europe, documented cases of proven poisoning are rare. Horses and cattle normally recognize and do not eat fresh ragwort due to its taste. However, they may still consume it if there is not enough other food. Further, if ragwort is included in hay or silage, livestock will not be able to recognize it, and it will moreover contaminate the entire batch.
Ragwort is native to the Eurasian continent. In Europe it is widely spread, from Scandinavia to the Mediterranean. In Great Britain and Ireland, where it is native, it is listed as an injurious weed under the weeds act and Ragwort Control Act.
Text excerpted from the Wikipedia article Jacobaea vulgaris by its contributors, under CC BY-SA 4.0; the excerpts and the care summary drawn from them are shared under the same licence.
The care summary was written by AI (Claude, Anthropic) from the sources on this page, with general growing knowledge where they are silent. Check before relying on it.
Life form, climate and native range: World Checklist of Vascular Plants, Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew (CC BY 3.0), reformatted; see Plants of the World Online.
