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What is this please?

CopperdogCopperdog Posts: 547
Is it something to keep or take out? 

Posts

  • BijdezeeBijdezee Posts: 1,484
    edited May 2020
    Take out. Its a weed I'm sure but I don't know the name sorry. I'm sure someone will though. 
  • josusa47josusa47 Posts: 3,530
    I don't know what it is, but I have lots of them in my lawn, and I bin them.  A fast-growing plant that you didn't plant and don't recognise is usually a weed.
  • herbaceousherbaceous Posts: 2,314
    Common Ragwort maybe?
    "The trouble with having an open mind, of course, is that people will insist on coming along and trying to put things in it."  Sir Terry Pratchett
  • Yup, common ragwort. Harmless, but ugly.
  • Silver surferSilver surfer Posts: 4,467
    Yup, common ragwort. Harmless, but ugly.
    Harmless in a garden...
    Hmmm!
    In farmland lethal to horses when it is fresh or dried.

    https://www.agriculture.gov.ie/media/migration/farmingsectors/crops/controlofnoxiousweeds/RagwortInformationSheet210317.pdf


    Quote from above link......."Ragwort is a highly poisonous plant if eaten. Ragwort is toxic to cattle, horses, deer, goats, pigs and chickens. Sheep are less affected by it but some trials would suggest lower thrive due to eating ragwort.The poisonous substances in ragwort are toxic alkaloids (Jacobine, Jacodine and Jaconine). These cause the liver to accumulate copper, causing ill heath and death. On good pastures livestock avoid eating ragwort, as it is unpalatable, but where there is over-stocking and grass is scarce the weed is unavoidably eaten. The poisonous material contained in ragwort is not destroyed by drying. Hay containing ragwort is particularly dangerous. Grass silage containing ragwort is also a serious source of poisoning. Cases of poisoning occurring in late winter and spring often result from the feeding for some months previously of hay or silage cut from ragwort infested swards"
    Perthshire. SCOTLAND .
  • SkylarksSkylarks Posts: 379
    Or if you leave it you might get a striking red and black caterpillar which turns into a beautiful cinnabar moth. 
  • LiriodendronLiriodendron Posts: 8,034
    Definitely harmless in the garden... we had cinnabar moth caterpillars on ragwort on our garden wall last year.  Delightful!  We cut off the seed heads to stop it spreading onto neighbouring farmland. 
    Since 2019 I've lived in east Clare, in the west of Ireland.
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