Common Groundsel

Senecio vulgaris L.

Asteraceae (Sunflower Family)

▲ seedling

▲young plant, with flowers

▲▼mature, flowering plants

▲ flower detail

▲ flowering stem and small "oak" like leaves

▲mature flower buds and fruit (parachute-like structures)

Common Groundsel: 

·         Cool weather or summer annual, with upright, somewhat branched growth habit, reaching 6-18 inches tall

·         Has bright green, oak-like, fleshy leaves

·         Flowers are small, with yellow petals, but they don’t ever really open much

·         Fruit small seed attached to white “parachute-like” pappus to allow wind distribution

·         Found in landscape beds, cultivated crops, urban disturbed sites