By Jane Mangold, MSU Extension Invasive Plant Specialist; Photos and "Story from the Field" by Devin Roloff, NRCS

Introduction

Yellow-flowered plant growing amid greenish-brown grass. Two flower heads have matured to round puffs of seeds.

Flowering (middle) and seed-producing (lower left)) cutleaf vipergrass. 

Cutleaf vipergrass, also called Mediterranean serpent-root, is a biennial forb in the Asteraceae family. It is native to Asia and Europe, where young leaves are occasionally consumed in salads. Additionally, the species has been used in traditional medicine for reducing inflammation and relieving pain. In the U.S. cutleaf vipergrass have been found in Texas north and west through Montana. Utah lists it as a 1B noxious weed, meaning it has limited distribution and is managed for early detection rapid response. Cutleaf vipergrass was featured in the 2019 May Weed Post. This post revisits the species with photos and a “Story from the Field” to shed additional light on cutleaf vipergrass in Montana.

 

Three small green plants circled in white with human hand on left to provide scale. Plants are splayed out with a crater-like dent in center.

Cutleaf vipergrass rosettes (circled) in lawn.

Two plants that have been pulled so that their taproots are showing. Plant on left has one flowering stem while plant on right has multiple flowering stems.

Non-mowed (left) and mowed (right) plants. Note additional flowering stems on mowed plant.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Story from the Field
Devin Roloff is the District Conservationist for NRCS Montana in the Harlowton Field Office. He has been observing and managing cutleaf vipergrass in his area. According to Devin, cutleaf vipergrass is prevalent in the Harlowton and Big Timber areas; he’s also observed it in Lewistown (See the Montana Natural Heritage Program for more Montana records). It can grow in lawns, pastures, and disturbed areas like gravel parking lots. Rosettes may be seen as early as April after a mild winter, and flowers usually appear by mid-May. Rosettes can be hard to see in lawns because the leaves are thin enough that they blend in with grass. Rosettes may be slightly bluer than grass, and the leaves lay out creating the appearance of a small crater-like dent in the lawn. Cutleaf vipergrass sends up a solitary, upright stalk with one to four flower heads on it. Bright yellow flowers open during morning and usually close by noon. Time between flowering and producing seeds appears to be short, often less than five days and perhaps as little as two or three days. Seeds have a pappus, like western salsify and dandelion. Devin has found that mowing cutleaf vipergrass is ineffective, at least in an irrigated yard setting. Plants keep growing back and sending up more heads, and if those are mown, flowering occurs below the mower deck height. Cutleaf vipergrass has a stout taproot and is relatively easy to pull, especially using a weed digger. If the plant breaks at ground level, it will grow back. Hand pulling, at least on a small scale, has been effective. Pulling is easier in the morning because the flowers are open and plants are easier to see.
 
Three round puffs of seeds. The puff on the left is largest and from western salsify; the puff in the middle is midsized and from cutleaf vipergrass; the puff on the right is smallest and from dandelion.

Seed heads of salsify (left), cutleaf vipergrass (middle), and dandelion (right).

Further Information

For more information about this month's weed post, contact Extension Invasive Plant Specialist Jane Mangold. Past posts are available in the Monthly Weed Post Directory.

THis weed post is also available as a printable PDF (2.1 MB).