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Index / Search / Senecio vulgaris

§1 Plant

Senecio vulgaris L.

vernacular old-man-in-the-Spring — species · Asteraceae

USDA
SEVU
GBIF
3108983
Rank
species
old-man-in-the-Spring (Senecio vulgaris)
Platephotograph · Inge BillerCC BY-NC source · iNaturalist ↗

§2Habit & range

Habit and range

Growth habit
Forb/herb
Duration
Annual, Biennial
Group
Dicot
Family
Asteraceae Bercht. & J. Presl
Genus
Senecio
§2a

Native status, by region

  • AK Alaska Introduced
  • CAN Canada Introduced
  • GL Greenland Introduced
  • HI Hawaii Introduced
  • L48 Lower 48 States Introduced
  • SPM St. Pierre & Miquelon Introduced
§2b

County-level range

· 433 counties across 45 states/territories
Legend Native · 0 Introduced · 433 Both · 0 Hover a county for detail.

§3Cultivation specs · USDA

Recorded by the USDA Plant Materials Program.

§3a

Tolerances

Drought
Medium
Shade
High
Moisture use
Medium
Fire
Low
Salinity
None
Anaerobic
None
CaCO₃
Medium
Hedging
None
§3b

Climate & soil

Cold tolerance
47 °F minimum
Frost-free days
120 min.
Precipitation
16–55 in/yr
pH range
5–8.5
Root depth
8 in min.
Fertility need
Medium
Soil texture
coarse, medium, fine
§3c

Form & growth

Growth form
Single Crown
Growth rate
Rapid
Mature height
1.5 ft
Foliage texture
Medium
Foliage colour
Green
Porosity (summer)
Moderate
Porosity (winter)
Porous
Flower colour
Yellow
Fruit colour
Brown
Fire resistant
No
N fixation
None
Toxicity
Slight
§3d

Reproduction

Bloom period
Early Spring
Seed abundance
High
Seed begins
Spring
Seed ends
Summer
Spread rate
Rapid
Stratify
No
Seeds / lb
400,000
Propagation
seed
§3e

Use & availability

Commercial availability
No Known Source
Nursery stock
No
Palatable, human
No
Lumber
No
Christmas tree
No

§4Counties, by state

Recorded in 433 counties across 45 states/territories.

Alabama view state ↗ 1 I ▾
Alaska view state ↗ 12 I ▾
Arizona view state ↗ 2 I ▾
Arkansas view state ↗ 3 I ▾
California view state ↗ 40 I ▾
Colorado view state ↗ 6 I ▾
Delaware view state ↗ 1 I ▾
District of Columbia view state ↗ 1 I ▾
Florida view state ↗ 2 I ▾
Georgia view state ↗ 2 I ▾
Hawaii view state ↗ 2 I ▾
Idaho view state ↗ 10 I ▾
Illinois view state ↗ 12 I ▾
Indiana view state ↗ 6 I ▾
Kentucky view state ↗ 9 I ▾
Louisiana view state ↗ 4 I ▾
Maine view state ↗ 10 I ▾
Massachusetts view state ↗ 12 I ▾
Michigan view state ↗ 33 I ▾
Minnesota view state ↗ 7 I ▾
Mississippi view state ↗ 1 I ▾
Missouri view state ↗ 1 I ▾
Montana view state ↗ 21 I ▾
Nebraska view state ↗ 1 I ▾
Nevada view state ↗ 1 I ▾
New Hampshire view state ↗ 4 I ▾
New Jersey view state ↗ 14 I ▾
New Mexico view state ↗ 2 I ▾
New York view state ↗ 27 I ▾
North Carolina view state ↗ 13 I ▾
North Dakota view state ↗ 2 I ▾
Ohio view state ↗ 18 I ▾
Oregon view state ↗ 23 I ▾
Pennsylvania view state ↗ 27 I ▾
Rhode Island view state ↗ 3 I ▾
South Carolina view state ↗ 6 I ▾
Tennessee view state ↗ 3 I ▾
Texas view state ↗ 12 I ▾
Utah view state ↗ 5 I ▾
Vermont view state ↗ 6 I ▾
Virginia view state ↗ 14 I ▾
Washington view state ↗ 29 I ▾
West Virginia view state ↗ 3 I ▾
Wisconsin view state ↗ 18 I ▾
Wyoming view state ↗ 4 I ▾

§5Sources & provenance

USDA PLANTS

Symbol, taxonomy, distribution, cultivation specs, native status. Public domain.

plants.usda.gov/SEVU ↗

GBIF Backbone

Canonical taxonomic identity, synonym resolution, cross-refs. CC0.

gbif.org/species/3108983 ↗

Record version

Cached and built locally. Source version on this record:

usda-plants-mt-2026-05-26

fetched 2026-05-26T20:46:58Z