Common groundsel

Description:

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.

Habitat:

Senecio vulgaris is a frost resistant deciduous annual plant that grows willingly in disturbed sites, waste places, roadsides, gardens, nurseries, orchards, vineyards, landscaped areas, agricultural lands, at altitudes up to 1,600 feet (500 m) and is, additionally, self-pollinating producing 1,700 seeds per plant with three generations per year. Seeds are dispersed by wind and also cling to clothing and animal fur, and as contaminates of commercially exchanged seeds; the relocation of this plant throughout the planet has been difficult if not impossible to contain.