Ragwort has been spreading for over 20 years and is often a problem on agricultural land. Even small amounts of the highly toxic plant are toxic to humans and animals and can permanently damage the liver. The plant is often confused with non-toxic plants and ingested unintentionally.

Ragwort (pictured here) is often confused with St. John's wort

Deceptively similar: St. John's wort

Medicinal and poisonous plants can be quickly confused by laypeople, as both plants have bright yellow flowers. They also often thrive in peaceful harmony in the same locations and have the same flowering period. A mix-up could be deadly, so double-check when collecting St. John's Wort.

Ragwort is a daisy family with a variable number of petals. The flowers themselves resemble daisy flowers and look like small suns. It grows from thirty centimeters to one meter tall.

St. John's wort, on the other hand, forms cymes and always has exactly five broad petals. It grows tautly upright and is still between thirty and eighty centimeters. When the buds are crushed, the deep red hypericin comes out (blood of Saint John). Since this is never the case with ragwort, you can identify the plant without a doubt.

If the plants are not in bloom, you can tell them apart by looking at their leaves. St. John's wort has small leaves about three centimeters long. Those of the dangerous ragwort are significantly larger and often covered with an unsightly down.

Distinguish between meadow pippau and ragweed

The Wisenpippau is also a daisy family, but in contrast to the golden yellow "daisy flower" of the ragwort, it has a yellow flower similar to that of a dandelion. The stem leaves of pippaus are far less excised than those of ragwort. The poisonous plant often has a purple-tinted stem. This is always deep green in the non-poisonous Pippau.

Confused with arugula

The leaves of the arugula, which is extremely popular as a salad, and those of the ragwort look very similar at first glance and can therefore be confused by laypeople. In 2009, some ragweed leaves were found in a pack of arugula purchased from a supermarket. However, this incident was a one-off.

First of all, arugula can be identified without a doubt by its strong and unique smell. Unlike ragwort leaves, arugula leaves are hairless and relatively soft. Those of the herb, on the other hand, are hairy like cobwebs and are more similar in structure to tough thistles. In addition, arugula does not grow wild in our latitudes, so if you think it is found, you can assume that it is ragwort.

tips

In Germany, more than 25 different ragwort species are known, all of which have different levels of toxicity. If you often collect herbs yourself, you should also find out exactly what these poisonous plants look like.

Category:

Herbs