Jacobaea vulgaris subsp. vulgaris

Tansy ragwort, Tansy Ragwort

Family: Asteraceae · Type: perennial · Not Native

Conservation status: Cal-IPC Yes

Tansy ragwort is a naturalized perennial herb found in northern California coastal regions, Klamath Ranges, northern Sierra Nevada, Sacramento Valley, and San Francisco Bay Area in pastures, moist ground, and open woods at elevations below 1,525 meters. Flowering from April to November, this plant produces yellow ray flowers with dark disk centers in rounded clusters 10 to 60 flower heads wide. Growing 2 to 5.5 meters tall with often purple-tinged stems, it develops from a taproot with sparsely cobwebby-hairy foliage. Its leaves are pinnately lobed, with broadly ovate blades 4 to 25 centimeters long featuring obovate to spoon-shaped lobes with dentate margins. The fruit is small, approximately 2 millimeters long, with tan ray fruits persisting after disk fruits fall.

Habitat: Pastures, moist ground, disturbed areas, open woods

Bloom period: Apr-Nov

Elevation: < 1525 m

Bioregions: NCo, KR, CaR, n SN, ScV, SnFrB

Data from The California Species Project — 14,000+ California species with verified data from CNPS, CDFW, USFWS, Jepson eFlora, Cal-IPC, and more.