Wildflower: Golden Ragwort

Senecio aureus

I was trying to be arty for the Shoot the Hills competition with this shot of golden ragwort along the Marsh Hollow creek. That's the bridge to our hillside trail in the background. From April to July, visitors to the Hocking Hills will see clusters of golden ragwort plants in wet ground, low woods, swamps and meadows, and especially along our many forested roads in Hocking County.

This ragwort is native to North America and can be distinguished from a lot of look-alike plants because it blooms much earlier than they do (always helpful for us amateur wildflower enthusiasts who get excited about a wildflower find only to discover that it doesn't bloom until August). Another helpful tip for identification is that the basal leaves are heart-shaped, long-stemmed and often reddish beneath. I had to pull away a thick layer of leaves to find this plant's basal leaves.

WebMD has an interesting write-up about the medicinal uses of golden ragwort, which include diabetes, high blood pressure, fluid retention & pain during childbirth. After reading the side effects, especially effects on the liver, I think I'll give it a pass.

At this time of year, Marsh Hollow has a beautiful display of wildflowers, making April and May two of the most beautiful months of the year.

More Wildflowers

I've seen a lot more flowers since my last posting, here are the few I've taken the time to try to identify:

• Daisy fleabane
• Dogwood
• Garlic mustard
• Lady's slipper
• Perfoliate bellwort

And a strangely colored violet, mottled white and purple - haven't figure out what it is yet.

Hocking Hills Wildflowers Right Now

Friends Beth & Chuck recently hiked through the Rock House area to enjoy spring wildflowers. They report that trillium, jack-in-th-pulpit, Dutchman's-breeches and many others are on full display. I'll have to get over there.

In the meantime, I hiked into the woods behind our house (same woods our Marsh Hollow cabin is near) and found the following beauties today:

• Bluets


• Common blue violet


• Cut-leaved toothwort


• Golden ragwort


• Hispid buttercup


• May-apple (not blooming yet, but getting ready)


• Poor man's pepper


• Rue anemone


• Smooth phlox


• Smooth yellow violet


• Spring beauty


• Sweet white violet


• White trillium

I can only hope I got the names right because I'm using the 1968 edition of A Field Guide to Wildflowers of Northeastern and North-central North America by Roger Tory Peterson and Margaret McKenny. Things can change in that amount of time.