page_title: Jacobaea vulgaris
section_title: Literature, poetry and mythology
hierarchical_section_title: Jacobaea vulgaris / Literature, poetry and mythology
caption_attribution_description: English: Flowering Ragwort, Jacobaea vulgaris (syn. Senecio jacobaea. Deutsch: Gewöhnliches Jakobs-Greiskraut (Senecio jacobaea, syn. Jacobaea vulgaris), auch Jakobs-Kreuzkraut genannt.
context_page_description: Jacobaea vulgaris, syn. Senecio jacobaea, is a very common wild flower in the family Asteraceae that is native to northern Eurasia, usually in dry, open places, and has also been widely distributed as a weed elsewhere.
  Common names include ragwort, common ragwort, stinking willie, tansy ragwort, benweed, St. James-wort, stinking nanny/ninny/willy, staggerwort, dog standard, cankerwort, stammerwort. In the western United States it is generally known as tansy ragwort, or tansy, though its resemblance to the true tansy is superficial.
  Although the plant is often unwanted by landowners because of its toxic effect for cattle and horses, and because it is considered a weed by many, it provides a great deal of nectar for pollinators. It was rated in the top 10 for most nectar production in a UK plants survey conducted by the AgriLand project which is supported by the UK Insect Pollinators Initiative. It also was the top producer of nectar sugar in another study in Britain, with a production per floral unit of.
context_section_description: The Greek physician Pedanius Dioscorides (c.40-90 CE) recommended the herb. The two "fathers" of herbalism, Gerard and Culpeper, also recommended the herb. Culpeper was an astrological botanist and thought the plant was "under the command of Dame Venus, and [it] cleanses, digests, and discusses."
  The poet John Clare had a more positive opinion of the plant, as revealed in this poem of 1831:
  Ragwort thou humble flower with tattered leaves
  I love to see thee come and litter gold...
  Thy waste of shining blossoms richly shields
  The sun tanned sward in splendid hues that burn
  So bright and glaring that the very light
  Of the rich sunshine doth to paleness turn
  And seems but very shadows in thy sight.
  The ragwort, under its Manx name Cushag, is the national flower of the Isle of Man  According to one story King Orry chose as his emblem the cushag flower, as its twelve petals represent one of the isles of the Kingdom of Mann and the Isles: the Isle of Man, Arran, Bute, Islay, Jura, Mull, Iona, Eigg, Rum, Skye, Raasay, and the Outer Hebrides.  The ragwort, in fact, usually has thirteen petals. The Manx poet Josephine Kermode (1852–1937) wrote the following poem about the Cushag:
  Now, the Cushag, we know,
  Must never grow,
  Where the farmer's work is done.
  But along the rills,
  In the heart of the hills,
  The Cushag may shine like the sun.
  Where the golden flowers,
  Have fairy powers,
  To gladden our hearts with their grace.
  And in Vannin Veg Veen,
  In the valleys green,
  The Cushags have still a place.
  (Vannin Veg Veen is Manx for dear little Isle of Man)
  Donald Macalastair of Druim-a-ghinnir on the Isle of Arran told a story of the fairies journeying to Ireland. The ragwort was their transport and every one of them picked a plant, sat astride and arrived in Ireland in an instant.
caption: Ragwort thou humble flower
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