Wondering what that succulent plant covered with yellow flowers is that you're seeing pop up all over Central Florida?  Hint:  Its not wild radish.  It is Butterweed (Cressleaf Groundsel; Packera glabella).  The specimen pictured above is one of thousands of individuals colonizing the area around Gilchrist Little Blue Spring.

In some areas north and west of Gainesville the weed infestation is so severe that pastures look like a sea of yellow.  Expect more blooms of Butterweed in April and May if rains ever return.

Butterweed is a winter annual that starts to emerge as early as November in parts of Florida.  This year has been anomalously warm so butterweed is everywhere.  It tends to prefer moist soils, so its presence is most pronounced around springs along the Suwannee and Santa Fe Rivers.

Initially butterweed grows as a rosette with leaves oppositely arranged on the stem, but it may appear to have whorled leaves because the internode length of the stems tends to be short.  Leaves of the plant are deeply lobed, except at the seedling stage.

As the flowering stalk of butterweed elongates, the stems become ribbed with red or purple streaks reminiscent of immature chard.  The leaf arrangement becomes alternate on the succulent and hollow stems.  

Typically butterweed is not recognizable until it begins producing several bright yellow flowers.  Individual flowers have both inner (disk) and outer (ray) flowers.  Butterweed will have 5 to 15 outer ray petals, making this species distinct from mustards which only have 4 petals in a cross-like arrangement.

Butterweed is toxic to both cattle and horses.  It is known to cause liver disease in cattle, producing symptoms such as listlessness, decreased appetite, and photosensitization in extreme cases.  Horses might appear uncoordinated, become entangled in fences, or awkwardly bump into objects after ingesting the plant.

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