Cressleaf Groundsel (Senecio glabellus)
Description: A winter annual in the Aster/Composite family 1'-3' in height. Grows upward in clusters.
Life Cycle: Winter annual
Habitat: Wet woods, swamps, stream banks, pastures, roadsides, and fields.
Leaf: Alternate, deeply divided with wide, round-toothed lobes
Stem: Succulent, smooth and hollow, branched.
Flower: Bright yellow individual flowers in a cluster, 0.5-1" in diameter with green bracts.
Fruit: White seeds in feathery structures that are dispersed by wind.
Root: Many fiberous roots.
The problem is…..toxic to grazing livestock. This plant contains compounds called pyrrolizidine alkaloids (PA’s) which metabolize in the liver to form other toxic compounds. Consuming significant quantities of the weed is poisonous.
