Common Ragwort - Jacobaea vulgaris

Medium to tall plant, stems erect to 1.5 metres, branched above. Basal and lower leaves pinnately lobed, with a small end lobe, withering by flowering time. Upper leaves 1 to 2 pinnately lobed, half clasping the stem. Flowerheads bright golden yellow, 15 to 25 mm with 12 to 15 rays, borne in large, flat topped, branched clusters.

Oxford Ragwort, Hoary Ragwort and Marsh Ragwort 

Dense flat-topped corymbs; terminal lobe of leaf not much larger than lateral lobes (much larger in Marsh Ragwort); supplementary phyllaries (bracts under flower head) less than half as long as main ones.  Oxford Ragwort has looser corymbs and black-tipped phyllaries.  Hoary Ragwort has leaves with dense greyish cottony hairs underneath, narrow lobes and longer supplementary phyllaries (about half as long as main ones).   

Phyllaries often stated to be black-tipped, but this is not a key characteristic.

Check the leaf-shape and general growth habit

Waste and poor land, rough grassland, roadsides and banks.

June to November.

Biennial or perennial.

Common throughout Britain.

Common in Leicestershire and Rutland.

Ragwort myths