Description
Golden Groundsel is a rosette-forming perennial with several runner-like stolons terminated by similar rosettes.
Golden Groundsel is a rosette-forming perennial with several runner-like stolons terminated by similar rosettes. Slender flowering stems rise to 1 1/2 ft. above the rosettes of oval leaves. Flower clusters are few- to many-headed; the yellow flowers heads occuring on slender pedicels.Golden Groundsel brings color to shaded spots in the landscape.
Once established, it colonizes quickly and creates an effective, evergreen ground cover. It is often one of the earliest bloomers of the year. Sonki is a gregarious plant of the Western Ghats which makes a splash during its mass flowering with the advent of monsoons. It is seen on hill-slopes, old roofs and forks of trees. It is an erect branched annual herb.Plant Specifications
| Common Name | Packera obovata,Ligularia,Sonki,Golden groundsel |
| Maximum Reachable Height | 1.00 to 1.50 feet |
| Flower Colour | Golden yellow flower |
| Bloom Time | April to June |
| Difficulty Level | easy to grow |
Planting and care
Ligularia are fairly easy to look after, requiring regular water to maintain moist soil and a fertilizer applied in spring and summer. After flowering has finished cut back the stalks.
At the end of the growing season in autumn cut Ligularia plants to ground level. To maintain vigorous growth it is best to divide Ligularia every three years in the springtime
Golden groundsel care
When growing Goldenray and other Ligularia outdoors from seeds they can be sown on the soil surface in either autumn or before the last frost of spring. They prefer to grow in sunny areas of the garden but are able to tolerate shady conditions. The soil that Ligularia grows in should be moist.
When first growing Ligularia seedlings indoors then they should be prepared about one and a half months before due in the garden in the spring.
| Sunlight | Full sun to part shade |
| Watering | Medium to wet |
| Soil | well-drained soil |
| Temperature | 55 to 65F |
| Fertilizer | Apply any organic fertilizer |
Golden groundsel special feature
Vigorous spring wildflower for sunny or shady areas of the landscape. Large naturalized plantings in woodland gardens can be spectacular in bloom.
Golden groundsel uses
Ornamental Use:
- Golden groundsel, Roundleaf groundsel, Roundleaf ragwort, Squawweed
- Use Ornamental: A good herb-layer groundcover for limestone woodlands in
Medicinal Use:
- Diaphoretic, antiscorbutic, purgative, diuretic, anthelmintic
- It was formerly much used for poultices and reckoned good for sickness of the stomach
- A weak infusion of the plant is now sometimes given as a simple and easy purgative, and a strong infusion as an emetic: it causes no irritation or pain, removes bilious trouble and is a great cooler, or as Culpepper puts it:The whole herb, collected in May, when the leaves are in the best condition and dried
- The fresh plant is also used for the expression of the juice