Common Groundsel

Use this forum for identification of plants and flowers found in the UK. To allow us to help provide accurate identification we need clear pictures of the whole plant, where it is growing and close up pictures of flowers, buds or seed heads if any available. It would also be useful to see pictures showing the leaf attached to the stem.
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Terrysmum
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Joined: 25 Aug 2021, 15:41

Common Groundsel

Post by Terrysmum » 27 Feb 2022, 16:39

Hello, I have identified a local plant called "Common Groundsel" Senecio Vulgaris. Can anyone advise whether or not my Terry can eat this please.

Thank you

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Nina
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Joined: 16 Mar 2017, 11:22

Re: Common Groundsel

Post by Nina » 27 Feb 2022, 18:27

Hi Terrysmum,

I'm afraid it's not a good feed. Here is the entry for it on our website: https://www.thetortoisetable.org.uk/pla ... hvCOZanw2E

Nina

Terrysmum
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Joined: 25 Aug 2021, 15:41

Re: Common Groundsel

Post by Terrysmum » 02 Mar 2022, 13:05

Thank you Nina, I did not feed it to him. I have an app on my phone which identifies plants so have been going out to see what is there for him to eat. This one came up but at least I know not to give it to him. Thank you

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Nina
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Re: Common Groundsel

Post by Nina » 02 Mar 2022, 13:22

Yes, it's always good to check first -- and you can either ask us or type the name of the plant into the search box that is on every page of our website here: https://www.thetortoisetable.org.uk/ and when the results come up you need to click on Read More to see the full entry.
Happy plant hunting!

Nina

CritterMama
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Joined: 21 Mar 2021, 13:43

Re: Common Groundsel

Post by CritterMama » 02 Mar 2022, 13:39

Too bad about Common Groundsel - it's everywhere (literally!) This entry from Wikipedia helps explain why! :o

"Senecio vulgaris is a frost-resistant deciduous annual plant that grows in disturbed sites, waste places, roadsides, gardens, nurseries, orchards, vineyards, landscaped areas, agricultural lands, at altitudes up to 1,600 feet (500 m) and is, additionally, self-pollinating producing 1,700 seeds per plant with three generations per year. Seeds are dispersed by wind and also cling to clothing and animal fur, and as contaminates of commercially exchanged seeds; the distribution of this plant throughout the world has been difficult if not impossible to contain."

I wholeheartedly support the Tortoise Table Plant Database and often argue with folks here in the states that it's not just for UK flora! Plant seeds are determined little things and something like a little ocean is not going to stop them! Case in point, Common Groundsel!
Critter Mama

One Husband, one Bearded Dragon, one Panther Chameleon, one Labrador Retriever, and now a baby Hermann's Tortoise!

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Nina
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Re: Common Groundsel

Post by Nina » 02 Mar 2022, 15:33

That is so true! There is a wonderful book by Richard Mabey called "Weeds: A Cultural History" (How Vagabond Plants Gatecrashed Civilization and Changed the Way We Think About Nature). I think the USA edition might be called "Weeds: The Story of Outlaw Plants". It's a wonderful book filled with mind-boggling facts and anecdotes. It's really about weeds in relation to people, culture, and history, and I highly recommend it.

One of the things I'm aware of here in the UK regarding how weeds travel and spread is the case of a very close relative of Groundsel, which is Oxford Ragwort (Senecio squalidus). It was brought to England in the 18th Century by botanists who discovered it growing in volcanic ash on the slopes of Mount Etna. It grew happily in the Oxford Botanic Gardens and then spread to growing in cracks in the limestone walls that surround the colleges in Oxford. In the 19th Century came the railways, and the Oxford Ragwort seeds took advantage of this by clinging to clothing, shoes and the gravel used in between railway tracks to spread throughout the UK. It is now common everywhere throughout the country. And I read one account -- it might have been by Richard Mabey -- of walking through London after the bombing in WWII, and weeds were sprouting from seeds of plants that had lain buried for hundreds of years and only germinated now because the bombing had churned up the soil and brought them closer to the surface. True survivors!

Nina

CritterMama
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Joined: 21 Mar 2021, 13:43

Re: Common Groundsel

Post by CritterMama » 02 Mar 2022, 18:48

Thank you Nina! The US title is "Weeds : in defense of nature's most unloved plants" (just ordered a copy on your recommendation!) Of course, another recommended book popped up: "The revolutionary genius of plants: a new understanding of plant intelligence and behavior" (2018) by Stefano Mancuso. That one I'll borrow from the library - I'll let you know!

Meanwhile, I recently added this book to my botany "collection". Do you say "It knocked my socks off" :?: :!: :lol:
"Flora - Inside the Secret World of Plants" by the Smithsonian in association with Royal Botanical Gardens, Kew (so you know it's gonna be good!) ISBN 10: 1465474501 / ISBN 13: 9781465474506 It is absolutely wonderful! :D
Critter Mama

One Husband, one Bearded Dragon, one Panther Chameleon, one Labrador Retriever, and now a baby Hermann's Tortoise!

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Nina
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Re: Common Groundsel

Post by Nina » 02 Mar 2022, 20:06

Hope you like the Mabey book, and thanks so much for the recommendation of the other two books. I'll definitely look into those!

Nina

CritterMama
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Re: Common Groundsel

Post by CritterMama » 26 Mar 2022, 15:01

Nina - I read just the first few pages of Mabey's book and I already know I'm going to love it! On page 1, his opening sentence is "Plants become weeds when they obstruct out plans, or our tidy maps of the world." Later, he talks about wandering through an area of rubble and trash, but finding plants such as hemlock, balsam, buddelia, wormwood, and others. "The plants felt like comrades in arms, vegetable guerrillas that had overcome the dereliction of the industrial age." I'm reminded of one of my favorite quotes "The only difference between a flower and a weed is judgement." Wayne W. Dyer

Thanks again for the recommendation.
Critter Mama

One Husband, one Bearded Dragon, one Panther Chameleon, one Labrador Retriever, and now a baby Hermann's Tortoise!

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Nina
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Re: Common Groundsel

Post by Nina » 26 Mar 2022, 16:31

I do hope you enjoy the rest of Mabey's book!
One of my favourite quotes about weeds is from Ralph Waldo Emerson, who said: "What is a weed? A plant whose virtues have not yet been discovered." I do think though that tortoise keepers have discovered the virtues of many 'weeds'!

Nina

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