Ragwort

Common ragwort (Senecio jacobea) is well known as a poisonous weed. It has attractive yellow flowers and easily recognisable leaves. It also has a very unattractive taste to rabbits and other mammals. When dried or if there is nothing else to eat, animals might eat it. The toxins cause permanent and sometimes fatal liver damage in horses and it should be pulled up in pastures where horses graze or meadows that hay is taken from. In verges and other places where horses do not graze it is can be left alone as it is an important plant for wildlife notably the Cinnabar moth. Although there are no reported cases of ragwort poisoning in rabbits, it is better not to pick it even though it is unlikely to be eaten.