Another dreich day forces me to turn to *Flora Britannica* for today’s photo.
Ragworts, a group of daisy-like flowers, include several species, with the Common Ragwort being particularly notorious. This native, biennial plant, sometimes perennial, disperses its seeds by the wind. One plant can produce thousands, making it a potential nuisance on waste land and uncultivated areas.
Despite this, the plant is an excellent food source for various insects and is much favoured by pollinators. Over a hundred insect species, including bees, flies, moths, and butterflies, feed on its nectar. Beyond nectar, it offers sustenance and shelter for many invertebrates, with some insects feeding exclusively on ragwort.
The cinnabar moth, notably associated with ragwort, is common yet rapidly declining. Its caterpillars, marked by yellow and black stripes, consume the ragwort, absorbing its toxic alkaloids which render them unpalatable to predators.
These alkaloids, while bitter, pose a problem when ragwort is present in fields grazed by horses or cattle. Horses typically avoid ragwort due to its taste, but ingestion, especially in hay, can lead to liver damage. Though ragwort poisoning is rare, the plant is classified as an injurious weed under the Weeds Act 1959, and the Ragwort Control Act 2003 provides a code of practice for its management. Efforts to remove ragwort can be problematic, with misidentifications and the overzealous use of weedkiller.
In Scotland, ragwort is commonly known as “stinking willie,” a name stemming from its association with William, Duke of Cumberland, aka ‘the Butcher’, after the Battle of Culloden in 1746. It is said that the hay used for livestock feed and bedding was contaminated with ragwort seeds, which then spread widely by wind.
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