Common Cudweed - Filago germanica

Short to low with dense grey-white hairs, stems erect. Flower heads yellow in dense rounded clusters sometimes of 20 or more, 10 to 14 mm across.

Filago (Logfia) minima

10-40 flower-heads in each cluster; outer phyllaries (bracts under flower head) acuminate and erect in fruit.

Small Cudweed (F minima) has 2-8 in each cluster, and phyllaries are obtuse to subacute; it is scarce in VC55

A photograph of the whole plant in flower (RPR)

Heathy grassland, embankments and disturbed ground.

July and August.

Annual.

Found mainly south of a line from the Severn to the Humber it is not as common as the name suggests being listed as 'near threatened' in Great Britain.

Only occasional in Leicestershire and Rutland. In the Flora of Leicestershire (Primavesi and Evans 1988) it was found in 10 of the 617 tetrads, and in the Flora of Rutland (Messenger 1971) in 10 tetrads

In the current checklist (Jeeves 2011) it is listed as Native; disturbed ground on well-drained soils, especially quarries; occasional.

It is listed on the current VC55 Rare Plant Register (Hall and Woodward 2022) because of its threat-level