Nipplewort - Lapsana communis

Description

Short to tall hairy plant without milky latex. Stems leafy, erect to 1.2 metres, branched or unbranched. Leaves oval toothed often lobed at the base. Flowerheads yellow, 10 to 20 mm in a lax branched panicle all the florets rayed.

Identification difficulty
Habitat

Waste and disturbed ground, roadsides.

When to see it

June to October.

Life History

Annual.

UK Status

Very common throughout Britain.

VC55 Status

Very common in Leicestershire and Rutland. In the 1979 Flora survey of Leicestershire it was found in 591 of the 617 tetrads.

Leicestershire & Rutland Map

MAP KEY:

Yellow squares = NBN records (all known data)
Coloured circles = NatureSpot records: 2020+ | 2015-2019 | pre-2015

UK Map

Species profile

Common names
Nipplewort
Species group:
Wildflowers
Kingdom:
Plantae
Order:
Asterales
Family:
Asteraceae
Records on NatureSpot:
289
First record:
01/01/2005 (Harry Ball)
Last record:
28/10/2023 (Smith, Peter)

Total records by month

% of records within its species group

10km squares with records

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Latest images

Latest records

Photo of the association

Liriomyza puella

The larva of the Agromyzid fly Liriomyza puella mines the leaves of Nipplewort. The mine starts as a corridor which then expands into a blotch which is dark with white borders. The blotch mine is initially circular, or slightly elongated, but becomes irregular as the mine matures and turning brown with age.