Tephroseris palustris explained

Tephroseris palustris, also known by its common names swamp ragwort, northern swamp groundsel, marsh fleabane, marsh fleawort, clustered marsh ragwort and mastodon flower, a herbaceous species of the family Asteraceae. It can be seen most easily when its bright yellow umbel flowers appear from May to early July standing 3 to 4 feet (0.9 to 1.2 m) along marshes, stream banks and slough areas where it likes to grow.[1] [2] [3]

Description

Tephroseris palustris can be an annual or biennial and perhaps rarely perennial, depending on the conditions.[4] A villous broad leafed plant with a single hollow stem and favoring mud flats like Marsh Groundsel (Senecio hydrophilus) but not alike in that marsh ragwort cannot tolerate alkaline sites nor standing water.[5]

In the early stages of growth, the leaves, stem, and flower heads are all covered with translucent hairs, producing a "greenhouse effect" close to the surface of the plant, essentially extending the growing season by a few vital days by allowing the sun to warm the tissues, and preventing the heat from escaping.[6]

Leaves and stems: An erect plant [7] standing 6 to 60 inches (15 to 150 cm) tall, S. congestus varies as much in stature as it does in the distribution and the persistence of its tomentum (the closely matted or fine hairs on plant leaves).[4] Sparse to dense villous stems are more hollow towards the base;[5] hairs that are white, light yellowish, or reddish brown.[4] Basal and cauline[4] leaf edges mostly toothless or with a few coarse teeth[7] that sometimes wither before flowering.[4] The leaves all basically similar in shape, oblong with the lower ones often spatulate, 1.6 to 8 inches (4 to 20 cm) long, 0.2 to 2.5 in (0.5 to 6 cm) wide, with the basal leaves occasionally larger, glabrous or villous in patches, rounded at the tips, toothed, often deciduous with clasping bases.[5]

Flowers: "Congested" clusters of several to many pale yellow flower heads[5] that sometimes appear tubular and incompletely opened.[4] a branched inflorescence,[7] with 13 to more than 21 flower heads per stalk. Each flower head is ¼ to ½ inch (6 to 13 mm) across and 0.16 to 0.4 inch (0.4 to 10 mm) in length,[4] with small but obvious rays[7] in a corolla laminae surrounded by (usually) 21 green or yellowish green, pink tipped bracts[4] which can be scarious toward the tips.[5]

Seeds: Tephroseris palustris produces strongly accrescent[5] one-seeded, one-celled,[4] 1.5 to 2.5 millimetres long[5] dry achenes[7] on very fine & numerous,[5] white or dirty white,[4] fluffy,[7] pappus bristles.[5] The seeds have been shown to survive in the soil for more than a year but less than 5 years, the maximum longevity unknown.[8]

Roots: Fibrous and without a tap root.[5]

Distribution

Tephroseris palustris grows in areas that have freezing winters[9] and in moist to wet soils, such as damp meadows, swamps, sandy pond edges[7] and roadside ditches[10] at altitudes of 0 to 3300feet[4] It is the most common annual plant species in the eastern Canadian Arctic.[6]

Native[9] [11]
  • America
  • North America: Alaska, Iowa, Michigan, Minnesota, North Dakota, South Dakota, Wisconsin, British Columbia, Alberta, Saskatchewan, Manitoba, Ontario, Quebec, New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, Prince Edward Island, Newfoundland and Labrador, Yukon, Northwest Territories, Nunavut
  • Asia
  • Northwestern Asia: Astrakhan Oblast, Bashkortostan, Belgorod Oblast, Bryansk Oblast, Chuvashia, Franz Josef Land, Kalmykia, Kaluga Oblast, Kirov Oblast or Vyatka, Kursk Oblast, Lipetsk Oblast, Mordovia, Novgorod Oblast, Novaya Zemlya, Orenburg Oblast, Penza Oblast, Perm Krai, Pskov Oblast, Rostov Oblast, Ryazan Oblast, Saint Petersburg, Samara Oblast, Saratov Oblast, Tambov Oblast, Tatarstan, Tula Oblast, Ulyanovsk Oblast, Udmurtia, Volgograd Oblast, Voronezh Oblast
  • Europe
  • Northern Europe: Denmark, Estonia, Latvia, Sweden
  • Middle Europe: Czech Republic, Poland
  • East Europe: Belarus, Kaliningrad Oblast, Lithuania, Ukraine
  • West Europe: France, Luxembourg, Netherlands
  • Southeastern Europe: Croatia
    Current[9] [11]
  • America
  • North America: Alaska, Iowa, Michigan, Minnesota, North Dakota, South Dakota, Wisconsin, British Columbia, Alberta, Saskatchewan, Manitoba, Ontario, Quebec, New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, Prince Edward Island, Newfoundland and Labrador, Yukon, Northwest Territories, Nunavut
  • Asia
  • Northwestern Asia: Astrakhan Oblast, Bashkortostan, Belgorod Oblast, Bryansk Oblast, Chuvashia, Franz Joseph Land, Kalmykia, Kaluga Oblast, Kirov Oblast or Vyatka, Kursk Oblast, Lipetsk Oblast, Mordovia, Novgorod Oblast, Novaya Zemlya, Orenburg Oblast, Penza Oblast, Perm Krai, Pskov Oblast, Rostov Oblast, Ryazan Oblast, Saint Petersburg, Samara Oblast, Saratov Oblast, Tambov Oblast, Tatarstan, Tula Oblast, Ulyanovsk Oblast, Udmurtia, Volgograd Oblast, Voronezh Oblast
  • Europe
  • Northern Europe: Denmark, Estonia (decreasing), Latvia, Sweden
  • Middle Europe: Czech Republic, Poland, Slovakia
  • East Europe: Belarus, Kaliningrad Oblast, Lithuania, Ukraine
  • West Europe: Belgium, France, Luxembourg, Netherlands
  • Southeastern Europe: Croatia
  • Southwestern Europe: Andorra, Gibraltar, Spain
    Range maps

    Noxiousness and toxicity

    Toxicity: Marsh ragwort is considered a vegetable and safe for human consumption; the young leaves and flowering stems of Senecio congestus can be eaten raw as salad, cooked as a potherb or made into a "sauerkraut",[12]

    Noxiousness: Tephroseris palustris appears on a list of North Dakota plants to be monitored,[3] however, it tends to be more of a plant that the presence of which indicates severe disturbance such as over-foraging and hyper-salinity, as is the case of the habitats of arctic geese where the forage plants are disappearing. Two locations are mentioned by United States Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) having problems from the ever-expanding populations of arctic geese[13] and one from the Arctic Institute of North America of the University of Calgary[14] or from an unpublished report from the Canadian Wildlife Service made available by the USFWS:[15]

    Tephroseris palustris is reported to be extirpated in Michigan.[9]

    Notes and References

    1. Book: Kershaw, Linda . Saskatchewan Wayside Wildflowers . Lone Pine Publishing . 2003 . Edmonton, Alberta . 84 . 1-55105-354-3.
    2. Book: Wilkinson, Kathleen . Wildflowers of Alberta A Guide to Common Wildflowers and Other Herbaceous Plants . Lone Pine Publishing and University of Alberta . 1999 . Edmonton Alberta . 284 . 0-88864-298-9.
    3. Web site: Swamp ragwort . 2008-02-23 . NDSU Extension Service . North Dakota State University . ND Noxious & Troublesome Weeds . . Swamp ragwort has been increasing in frequency recently and infestations should be monitored even though the plant generally is not considered invasive..
    4. Web site: Flora of North America Tephroseris palustris (Linnaeus) . 2008-02-16 . Flora of North America . Flora of North America.
    5. Web site: 1. Senecio congestus (R.Br.) DC. -- Swamp ragwort . 2008-02-12 . US Geological Survey . United States Geological Survey . 2006-08-03 . 14. Senecio L.-- Ragwort; 49. Asteraceae, the Aster Family; Aquatic and Wetland Vascular Plants of the Northern Great Plains . United States Department of the Interior.
    6. Web site: Tephroseris palustris (L.) Fourr. subsp. congesta (R.Br.) Holub . 2008-02-23 . S.G. Aiken . M.J. Dallwitz . L.L. Consaul . C.L. McJannet . L.J. Gillespie . R.L. Boles . G.W. Argus . J.M. Gillett . P.J. Scott . R. Elven . M.C. LeBlanc . A.K. Brysting . H. Solstad . amp . 2003-05-29 . Flora of the Canadian Arctic Archipelago . Canadian Museum of Nature.
    7. Web site: Senecio congesta . 2008-02-16 . University of Wisconsin–Stevens Point . University of Wisconsin–Stevens Point . Robert W. Freckmann Herbarium.
    8. Web site: The Soil Seed Banks of North West Europe: Methodology, density and Longevity . 2008-02-24 . Thompson, K. . Cambridge University Press . Bakker, J.P. . Bekker, R.M. . amp. 1997 . Cambridge University Press, Cambridge..
    9. Web site: PLANTS Profile, Senecio congestus (R. Br.) DC. . 2008-02-16 . Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) . Natural Resources Conservation Service . The PLANTS Database . .
    10. Web site: Senecio congestus (R. Br.) DC / Крестовник скученный . 2008-02-23 . 2005-03-12 . Russian.
    11. Web site: Details for: Tephroseris palustris (L.) Rchb. . 2008-02-26 . Botanic Garden . Botanical Garden in Berlin . Botanical Museum Berlin-Dahlem . amp. Euro+Med PlantBase . Freie Universität Berlin.
    12. A.E. . Porsild . Edible Plants of the Arctic . 1953 . 15–34 (p. 27).
    13. Web site: STATUS OF HABITAT AT SELECTED BREEDING AND STAGING SITES . 2008-02-23 . ((ARCTIC GOOSE HABITAT WORKINGGROUP)) . United States Fish and Wildlife Service . ARCTIC ECOSYSTEMS IN PERIL . dead . https://web.archive.org/web/20070807153821/http://www.fws.gov/migratorybirds/issues/arcgoose/partii/stathab.html . August 7, 2007 .
    14. Encyclopedia: Vegetation correlates of the history and density of nesting by Ross's geese and lesser snow geese at Karrak Lake, Nunavut . 2008-02-23 . Alisauskas, Ray T. . Charlwood, Jason W. . Kellett, Dana K. . 2006-06-01 . Encyclopedia.com . HighBeam Research, Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan.
    15. Web site: INTERACTION WITH ARCTIC AND SUBARCTIC HABITATS . 2008-02-24 . Andrew B. Didiuk . Canadian Wildlife Service . Ray T. Alisauskas . Robert F. Rockwell. 2002 . dead . https://web.archive.org/web/20070710215040/http://www.fws.gov/migratorybirds/reports/rossgeese/chapter4.pdf . July 10, 2007 .
    16. Web site: Karrak Lake, Nunavut -- Google Maps . 2008-02-24.

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