The Urban Pantheist

Photos by cottonmanifesto. Location: Brookline Ave, Boston.

Urban species #335: Common grounsel Senecio vulgaris.

What weed has the temerity to be flowering on the first of December in Boston? Common groundsel, that's what. Only a couple weeks ago, on the last Urban Nature Walk, I dismissed it as "some kind of sowthistle." While they are similar to one another, groundsel is a much smaller plant, with blossoms that look like dandelions that never fully open. Like dandelion, groundsel is primarily self-pollinated, and its seeds are dispersed by the wind, factors that have allowed it to spread to an incredibly vast range. From its origins in the Mediterranean, it has scattered to every continent, every U.S. state, and nearly every inhabited island in the world--also like dandelion. Unlike dandelion, groundsel is poisonous, and is considered a serious pest of agricultural crops and pastures. It has been used as an herbal medicine ingredient and in teas, for female reproductive system ailments. Horses and cattle have died from eating it, and human patients have succumbed to liver disease from drinking groundsel tea. Rabbits seem to be resistant to groundsel poisoning, and birds can eat the seeds with impunity.