Sigesbeckia serrata Western St. Paul's-wort I
This tropical central or southern American plant is an alien which occasionally appears as a grain contaminant according to Clement and Foster. It was plentiful at this site where you can examine the leaves to see quite small serrations at the edges giving the "serrata" species name.
Neither books nor the fellow botanist who alerted me to the presence of this plant mention its most distinctive feature: extreme stickiness (see large image). The long bracts below the flower (which could be part of the calyx) are covered with very sticky glandular hairs and after taking several photos I found my fleece covered in plant bits including seeds. It's worse than Goosegrass (Galium aparine) which is known for its ability to stick to your clothes hence its other colloquial name: Sticky Willy! Looking at the size of these sticky blobs (glandular hairs) on the bracts of Sigesbeckia serrata which are comparable with the size of those on a Drosera rotundifolia (Sundew), I wonder whether this plant is partially insectivorous.
There are a few sites in the south west where it appears but it is commonest in the north west of England near the Sefton coast. It has not yet been recorded from Wales, Scotland or Ireland.
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| Sigesbeckia serrata St. Paul's-wort |
Roadside near Warrington Industrial estate 8th Oct0ober 2008
Added on 8th October 2008, updated 7th February 2012