Heath Groundsel

Heath Groundsel - Senecio sylvaticus

Description

Reaching up to 70 cm in height, yellowish green hairy plant, not sticky. Stems erect, slender and grooved. Leaves slightly hairy. Flowerheads bright yellow 5 to 6 mm with 8 to 15 short rays, which soon become recurved, are borne in a fairly large, terminal flat topped cluster.

Similar Species

Groundsel (Senecio vulgaris)

Identification difficulty
ID checklist (your specimen should have all of these features)

With glandular hairs, but not sticky; common groundsel does not have glandular hairs.  Involucre (the collection of bracts under the florets) usually looks slightly conical, not cylindrical

Recording advice

Good photos of the inflorescence showing the shape of the flowers and the bracts, the upper and lower stems leaves, and a photo of the whole plant to show the profuse branching are needed.

Habitat

Shady places open woodland and woodland margins, shady hedge banks and disturbed ground.

When to see it

July to September.

Life History

Annual.

UK Status

Found throughout Britain, but usually local in its distribution. It is rather scarce in west Scotland.

VC55 Status

Infrequent in Leicestershire and Rutland. In the 1979 Flora survey of Leicestershire it was found in 46 of the 617 tetrads.

In the current checklist (Jeeves 2011) is is described as Native; heath-grassland and open woodland on acid soils; occasional

Leicestershire & Rutland Map

MAP KEY:

Yellow squares = NBN records (all known data)
Coloured circles = NatureSpot records: 2025+ | 2020-2024 | pre-2020

UK Map

Additional images

No additional images available for this species.

All NatureSpot records