Stats

Lifespan: Annual
Size: Small
Diet: Photosynthetic
Biome: Temperate grassland
Range: Europe
Movement: Sessile
Breeding: Seeds
Defense: Toxins
Status: Common

About

Common groundsel is one of the world's most prolific annual weeds, capable of completing its entire life cycle — seed to seed — in as little as five weeks. It thrives in gardens, roadsides, and disturbed ground nearly everywhere humans live, producing fluffy seed heads that disperse on the wind much like a miniature dandelion.

Life cycle

1.
seed
A dormant seed waits for water and warmth before germinating.
2.
sprout
A first shoot emerges with cotyledon leaves and a tap root reaching down.
3.
sapling
A young plant grows true leaves and a stem or trunk, putting on height each season.
4.
mature
Fully grown, flowering or fruiting at adult size.

Learn more

Taxonomy

Kingdom: Plantae
Phylum: Tracheophyta
Class: Magnoliopsida
Order: Asterales
Family: Asteraceae
Genus: Senecio
Species: Senecio vulgaris