– Christine Gelley, Agriculture and Natural Resources Educator, Noble County OSU Extension
Butterweed, or cressleaf groundsel, showing some bloom!
Based on the last couple year’s experience, fields of yellow flowers are soon to be abundant across Ohio. Hopefully conducive April weather for planting new crops will help reduce the prevalence of a toxic winter annual plant that often creates these blankets of yellow.
The scenes that result are deceptively beautiful with their sunny appearance but may actually pose a deadly threat to livestock if the plant happens to be cressleaf groundsel, which is also known as butterweed. Cressleaf groundsel is a weed known to cause livestock poisonings in harvested or grazed forages.
Cressleaf groundsel is a member of the aster family and displays yellow daisy like blooms in the springtime on upright hollow stems that have a purple hue. These plants are winter annuals, meaning the seed germinates in the fall producing vegetative growth and then flowers in the springtime. If allowed to set seed, the plants will appear again in greater numbers the year following. The plants typically go unnoticed in the fall, which is the best time for weed control.
Cressleaf is most commonly found in annual crop settings because bare soils in the fall and spring allow the plants to grow without competition from the crops. However, it can be found in pastures and hayfields if seed travels from an infested field nearby. Effective herbicide control can be accomplished in the fall using products that contain 2,4-D. If the plants are already flowering, mowing and removing the plant residue is the best option to prevent animal consumption and seed deposition.
There are other yellow flowers with a similar appearance blooming now that are less concerning, but problematic as competition in crop stands. One that is commonly confused with cressleaf groundsel is another winter annual called yellow rocket. Unlike cressleaf, yellow rocket is in the mustard family. The flowers look very different from cressleaf and the plants are typically shorter on green stems and grow with a taproot. Although yellow rocket can cause digestive upset if consumed in large quantities, it is not considered poisonous or noxious.
Before implementing any weed control program, getting an identification confirmation is very important! Study the whole plant before making a judgement call on how to address it’s presence.
Learn more about cressleaf groundsel identification, concerns, and control by watching the following video by OSU Extension on YouTube (embedded below).