Wood ragwort

Senecio ovatus (wood ragwort) is a herbaceous perennial of the daisy family (Asteraceae) reaching 50–150 cm tall from a short rhizome. The erect, glabrous to slightly hairy, sparingly branched stems bear alternate, oblong to lance-shaped leaves with finely serrated margins that are progressively reduced and sessile toward the top of the stem. From July to September the plant produces broad, loose flat-topped corymbose inflorescences of numerous small light yellow flower heads, each with five or six narrow ray florets surrounding a centre of tubular disc florets, the heads subtended by glabrous green involucral bracts. The fruit is a slender ribbed achene topped with a soft white pappus that aids wind dispersal. Native to central Europe, wood ragwort grows in rich, shady, moist deciduous and mixed forests, along stream banks and waterfronts, and on uncultivated ground in clearings, ranging from about 200 m up to roughly 2,000 m elevation.