#staggerwort

Plant of the Day

Monday 1 September 2025

Considered a weed of pasture land Jacobaea vulgaris (common ragwort, benweed, cankerweed, ragweed, felon weed, keddledock, Saracen's compass, St James' weed, staggerwort, starwort, yellow tops) has many common names. This upright biennial or short-lived perennial is poisonous to horses, especially when in hay where it cannot be detected, but by contrast it is an important food plant for the caterpillars of Tyria jacobaeae (cinnabar moth).

Common ragwort, the bane of horsey people. Also known as St James’ Wort, Staggerwort, Stammerwort, Yellow tops, and, the best of all, Mare’s fart.

Those who keep horses are religious about labouriously hand pulling every plant from their paddocks. Yet horses and other grazing animals find it bitter and will not normally eat the growing plant unless the cover is so dense that grazing is actually…