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.

See the BSBI distribution map for Saw-wort

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