Groundsel - Senecio vulgaris
Low to short plant, the stem is often purplish. The leaves are bright shiny green pinnately lobed. The upper unstalked and slightly clasping. Flowerheads yellow, small and rayless 4 to 5 mm in lax branched clusters. Flower bracts often black tipped, the outer very short. Pappus white.
A common weed of gardens, disturbed soil abd waste places.
Flowers throughout the year.
Annual.
Common throughout Britain.
Very common in Leicestershire and Rutland. In the 1979 Flora survey of Leicestershire it was found in 603 of the 617 tetrads.
 Church Walk Sapcote SP 4855 9321 (taken 5.1.2008).JPG)
Graham Calow
Sapcote
05 January 2008
Mike Higgott
Anstey garden
25 April 2015
Kaye Axon
Westcotes, Hinckley Road
21 March 2023
David Nicholls
Ashby Canal, Shackerstone
15 September 2012
David Nicholls
Ratby village pond and meadow
09 May 2023
 Church Walk Sapcote SP 4855 9321 (taken 5.1.2008).JPG)
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Species profile
- Common names
- Groundsel
- Species group:
- flowering plant
- Kingdom:
- Plantae
- Order:
- Asterales
- Family:
- Asteraceae
- Records on NatureSpot:
- 574
- First record:
- 05/01/2008 (Calow, Graham)
- Last record:
- 15/04/2026 (Pugh, Dylan)
Total records by month
% of records within its species group
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Latest records
David Nicholls
Ratby
21 April 2013
Craig Mabbett
Shawell, Main Street
17 June 2023
marianmarkham@btinternet.com
langham
29 March 2023
David Nicholls
Ratby church
04 January 2023 field near to Spring Gardens Sapcote SP 4918 9386 (taken 21.4.2008).JPG)
Graham Calow
Sapcote
21 April 2008
 field near to Spring Gardens Sapcote SP 4918 9386 (taken 21.4.2008).JPG)
Puccinia lagenophorae
Puccinia lagenophorae is a gall-causing rust affecting stems and leaves of Common Groundsel, and occasionally Oxford Ragwort (Senecio squalidus) and Common Ragwort (Jacobaea vulgaris). It causes swelling and distortion of stems and leaves, with bright orange aecia. There are no uredinia or spermogonia, and the blackish-brown telia are rarely seen.