Figure 55.—Golden groundsel (Senecio aureus)

Other Common Names

Life root, golden ragwort, swamp squawweed, coughweed, grundy-swallow.

Habitat And Range

Golden groundsel is found in swamps and meadows from Newfoundland to Ontario, and Missouri, Florida, and Texas.

Description

This plant is a smooth herb with rather slender, solitary or tufted stems one-half to 2 1/2 feet high. The basal leaves, which are 1 to 6 inches long, are heart-shaped or kidney-shaped with long stems and often purplish beneath. The lower stem leaves are lance-shaped and deeply out and the upper most small and clasping. The flower heads, from two-thirds of an inch to about 1 inch broad, consisting of disk and deep yellow ray flowers, are borne several in a flat-topped open cluster during the early summer.

Part Used

The herb and the root.