Climate change favors wild ragwort plant

As a poisonous species that is unsuitable for consumption, it poses a danger to herbivores. However, like other toxic wild plants, it is an indispensable component of the local vegetation and can be kept away from agricultural land using simple, ecologically justifiable means. As a concrete measure against the spread in agricultural areas, the Landesbetrieb Landwirtschaft Hessen recommends preventing seed formation and fending off immigration into grassland scars. This is the responsibility of the farmer or landowner.

Contrary to popular belief, ragwort is not an invasive plant species. The plant is a native species. Like the majority of wild plants growing in Germany, it contains substances that can have a carcinogenic or toxic effect. However, these plants are also indispensable elements of the ecosystems in which they occur. As the effect of these substances depends solely on the use of the plants and the plant does not pose a general threat to public safety or the ecosystem, no official action is planned against the spread of the plant, as is the case with all other native wild plants.

Ragwort (Senecio jacobaeae), also known as St. James' ragwort, has been part of the Central European flora for over 2000 years. The biennial plant grows between 30 and 120 cm tall and develops striking bright yellow ray flowers and numerous airborne seeds in its second year. The entire plant contains pyrrolizidine alkaloids, making it poisonous and unsuitable for consumption. The flowers have the highest concentration of poison.

In principle, the bitter and odorous substances in the plant deter animals from eating it, but the production of toxins precedes the production of bitter substances, and so the plant poses a danger to inexperienced young animals, especially in the rosette stage.

Pyrrolizidine alkaloids are not broken down during the preservation process. In preserved feed, however, the repulsive inherent odor of the plant is masked by the scent of the hay or fermentation acids, thus increasing the risk of consumption.

The main natural distribution of ragwort is in the steppe-like habitats of the Near East and the Mediterranean region. In Germany, the plant is mainly found on roadsides and roadsides, railroad embankments, fallow fields, rubble and other areas without closed vegetation cover. On intensively used meadows and pastureland, as well as in closed swards, ragwort, which is weak in competition, can hardly establish itself.