Wildflowers of the Blue Ridge Parkway - Small's Groundsel

Small's Groundsel (also known as Small's Ragwort and classified as packera anonyma) is found across the eastern third of the United States. The plant is a composite with two types of flowers: the petal-like ray flowers and the inner disk flowers. Although some composites exist that are annuals or biennials, Small's Groundsell is a perennial that will sprout year after year. That is, of course, providing that there is adequate space for a strong root system to form and negligible competition from other plants. Like most other composites, this plant has two different kinds of foliage: basal leaves (somewhat broad and paddle-shaped) that persist in winter, and a few very different-looking leaves that are highly dissected along their edges.

Back to Top

Many members of the senecio genus are poisonous and can cause an ailment known as seneciosis. They are known to contain some combination of liver-damaging pyrrolizidine alkaloids such as jacobine, retrorsine, senecifoline, and senecine. Livestock or humans that ingest Small's Groundsel can exhibit symptoms that include jaundice, cirrhosis of the liver, phtosensitization, and central nervous system disruptions such as clumsiness and confusion.

Back to Top

• http://www.hiltonpond.org/ThisWeek060501.html
• USDA PLANTS Database
  http://plants.usda.gov/java/profile?symbol=PAAN6
• Wildflowers of the Blue Ridge Parkway
• Blue Ridge Parkway Wildflowers in Color

Back to Top