Only if you dont like it.

If it grows willingly without help then it is a weed.

Yes.

No.

This is a weed

Looks like ragwort to me, so yes, by most standards.

Personally I would not smoke but YMMV

That’s wild cale, chuck some of the top sprouting leaves in your next salad.

why do I feel, i’m a bit disappointed 😕

As maccyb, I’d say ragwort

It’s ragwort. Not very good for horses livers. I wouldn’t eat it.

Wear gloves when you deal with it.

Too late we’ve eaten it!

if it’s ragwort, consider keeping it – supposedly quite important for lots of insect species

That’s great to have one person saying it’s a poisonous weed and another saying eat it 🙂 I guess we’ll find out in a few days who was right…

(Ok, it actually does look like ragwort to me, but it’s probably not as hugely poisonous as its reputation suggests. Don’t eat any more of it!)

ref rhs
https://www.rhs.org.uk/advice/profile?PID=299Ragwort – Poisoning in Humans?. Why ragwort poses no risk to humans.
http://www.ragwortfacts.com/ragwort-poisoning-in-humans.html
Ragwort tastes so bad that animals are repelled by it. The amount of ragwort that would need to be consumed by a person to damage them would be enormous.

if it’s ragwort, consider keeping it – supposedly quite important for lots of insect species

Cinibar moth

Cinibar moth[/quote]Can you eat them?

Of course you can, but they were phased out at the same time Fry’s changed the wrapper on their Turkish delight.

Cinnabar – you’d die from Mercury poisoning. I remember ragwort as being a darker green than the pic, though.

The olive on the right hand side is not a weed

We were certain we didn’t plant it.
That’s in our new raised beds which we planted last August. We paid extra to have super duper topsoil , maybe the seeds were in that.It has swamped the olive as mentioned above.
Mrs Zip wasn’t sure what it was .
Tomorrow it dies.

Seeds will be in soil or could be blown in or transported on animals or in animals

Its not ragwort.

We have quite a bit where we are, much to the concern of the local cattle farmers and horse owners, and it doesn’t look like the plant in the OP’s picture.

Looks like groundsel

Some of our ragwort just now:

Ragwort is one of the contolled plants like giant hogwort and Japanese knotweed. If it is remove it.

beamers that is groundsel (or are you taking the piss}

I stand corrected. What a relief.
(Can I eat it?)

Excellent to see STW performing to stereotype – apparently we can blame our parents for complete lack of knowledge, and it’s not that we are just a bunch of uneducated ****.

No, ragwort is not controlled like hogweed and knotweed.

It’s groundsel. Closely related to ragwort, but not the same species.

If you like it, keep it. If not, get rid. It’s not notifiable, or going to kill baby owls.

Good for bot worms apparently, so if you’ve got any of them – give it a go..

Before we get into a fight about whether it’s groundsel or ragwort… there are plenty of sources which say they are common names for the same thing e.g. Encyclopaedia Brittanica:

Groundsel, also called ragwort, any of about 1,200 species of annual, biennial, and perennial herbs, shrubs, trees, and climbers constituting the genus Senecio of the family Asteraceae

and Wikipedia

Vernacular names for S. vulgaris in English include old-man-in-the-spring, common groundsel, groundsel, ragwort, grimsel, grinsel, grundsel, simson, birdseed, chickenweed, old-man-of-the-spring, squaw weed, grundy swallow, ground glutton and common butterweed.

Good luck getting a species-specific id!

Ragwort tastes so bad that animals are repelled by it.

True, but this applies to the live plant. If the plants are cut down / uprooted, etc. and allowed to wilt and dry out, then animals that would otherwise avoid it will eat it and be poisoned.

Either leave it alone, or pull it up and dispose of it well away from the reach of any grazing animals.

I donned a garment replete with sleeves and sturdy gloves to thwart the leaves.
Suitably attired I strode out this morn , past the veg ,past the lawn.
There was my foe with with unknown name ,lacking flower but with leafy mane
This weed was innocent but viewed with sin it’s home was the earth but it is now the bin.

Bravo! 😀

Thecaptain, technically you are right, it has it’ own special legislation, The Ragwort Control Act 2003.

Before we get into a fight about whether it’s groundsel or ragwort… there are plenty of sources which say they are common names for the same thing e.g. Encyclopaedia Brittanica:
Groundsel, also called ragwort, any of about 1,200 species of annual, biennial, and perennial herbs, shrubs, trees, and climbers constituting the genus Senecio of the family Asteraceae

and Wikipedia
Vernacular names for S. vulgaris in English include old-man-in-the-spring, common groundsel, groundsel, ragwort, grimsel, grinsel, grundsel, simson, birdseed, chickenweed, old-man-of-the-spring, squaw weed, grundy swallow, ground glutton and common butterweed.
Good luck getting a species-specific id!

Groundesl is Senecio vulgaris ragwort is Senecio jacabea

Is this Russianisicus Bindweedium?