One study showed that rust fungus infected Senecio vulgaris survived and actually used more of the available soil nutrients.

Senecio vulgaris (I)

Common Groundsel (Senecio vulgaris)

Stems and leaves resemble those of the Common Groundsel (Senecio vulgaris) with the exception that their lobes are more widely spaced.

Notable in the United States are the ragwort, Senecio jacobaea, groundsel Senecio vulgaris and Taraxacum (dandelion).

There is a radiate form of Senecio Vulgaris, which is the result of cross pollination with the closely related Senecio Squalidus.

It is not clear whether Tussilago or groundsel (Senecio vulgaris) is meant; or whether he was not sure which of the two plants becomes slimy when wetted.)

Its ancestor was Senecio x baxteri, an infertile hybrid which can arise spontaneously when the closely related groundsel (Senecio vulgaris) and Oxford ragwort (Senecio squalidus) grow alongside each other.

Chemical: Herbicides designed to control broadleaf plants are affective for controlling Senecio vulgaris in cereals and forage grasses but also will "control" broadleaf crops, such as mint, forage legumes, strawberries, carrots and all other non-grass crops.

Standing only between 4 and 16 inches (10 to 41 cm) tall, bright florets mostly hidden by the characteristic bract giving it the appearance of never opening flowers and with a life span of 5-6 weeks, the self-fertilizing Senecio vulgaris lives humbly among and occasionally under the other weeds and is easy not to notice.