Seasonal Wild Flowers

Saw-wort

Serratula tinctoria

Asteraceae

July to September

It is found throughout the country but is patchy in the Midlands

and the North and absent from parts of East Anglia and the

Southeast.

For a map see the National Biodiversity Network Gateway

It grows in calcareous grassland, hay meadows, wet heaths,

open scrub and woodland, cliff-tops and beside roads and railways.

Saw-wort is a native, perennial, variable herb, growing up to 1m.

Flowers are up to 2cm, reddish-purple and dioecious - the flowers

shown are female with forked styles.

Bracts are pointed ovals with downy margins.

Upper leaves are sessile and lanceolate and lower leaves are

pinnately lobed with bristle-toothed margins.

Saw-wort was used to provide a greenish-yellow dye, hence

the latin name.

Saw-wort, Powerstock Common, Dorset

Flowerhead from side

Flowerhead from above

Small, lanceolate upper leaves

Saw-like lower leaf