HoneyHQ

Common ragwort

Jacobaea vulgarisAsteraceaeBiennial

One of the most valuable insect plants in Britain and one of the most vigorously destroyed, because it is toxic to horses and cattle. Around 180 insect species feed on it and around 30 are entirely dependent on it, including the cinnabar moth. Both facts are true simultaneously, and the sensible position is about where it grows rather than whether it should exist.

Where not to plant it

In Britain it is a native plant listed under the Weeds Act 1959, which allows enforcement requiring control where it threatens grazing land or hay production — it is not, as widely believed, illegal to have it growing. Outside its native range, particularly in New Zealand, it is a genuinely invasive weed of pasture.

Caution

Ragwort contains pyrrolizidine alkaloids and is toxic to horses and cattle, which is the reason for its legal status. The risk is overwhelmingly from contaminated dried hay, where the plant is no longer bitter and grazing animals cannot avoid it — live plants in a field are usually left alone by stock. Trace alkaloids can appear in honey from areas of heavy ragwort, which is monitored but is not at levels of concern in ordinary mixed-forage honey.

Value to bees

Nectar
High
Pollen
High
As a honey crop
Minor honey crop — a surplus only locally or occasionally
Which bees, and why
Worked by an exceptionally wide range of insects — bees, hoverflies, moths, butterflies and beetles. Around thirty British insect species depend on it entirely, which is a higher figure than for almost any other native herb.
Worth knowing
Generous on both counts over a long season, and one of the most heavily used flowers in the British summer.

Flowering

In flower
June to October (northern hemisphere)

A long season through the height of summer and into autumn.

Growing it

Conditions
Full sun on disturbed, well-drained and often poor ground. It colonises bare soil readily and declines as a sward closes over.
Size
30-100 cm tall.
Native range
Europe and western Asia, on grassland, waste ground, dune and roadside. Introduced and invasive in New Zealand and parts of North America.
Suits
Meadow or wildflower area
  • The sensible approach is location rather than eradication: control it in hay meadows and horse paddocks, and leave it on road verges, brownfield land and coastal dune.
  • Pull before it seeds where control is genuinely needed, and wear gloves.
  • Never leave pulled plants where stock can reach them — wilted ragwort is more dangerous than growing ragwort.

What it looks like

An upright biennial or short-lived perennial with deeply cut ragged leaves and dense flat-topped clusters of bright golden-yellow daisy flowers. The black-and-orange striped caterpillars of the cinnabar moth are frequently conspicuous on it.

Sources

  • Assessment Report on Pollinators, Pollination and Food Production — Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES) (2016) · Systematic review Link
  • Field Guide to the Bees of Great Britain and Ireland — Bloomsbury (2015) · Field guide

How sources are selected and weighted is set out in the sources and evidence policy.

Guides covering this plant

Tools for planning planting

HoneyHQ saves your cookie choice on this device. Optional analytics run only if you accept — set a preference now, or change it later on the cookies page.