A tansy ragwort plant flowers beside the sidewalk on Southeast Second Avenue.
On a bike ride through Albany the other day, a bunch of bright yellow flowers on the side of the street caught my eye.
This was on Second Avenue SE, on the north side of the street just before the corner at unimproved Thurston Street. Nearby, Josh Mitchell of River City Design and Build LLC is building a duplex on a previously vacant lot.
I stopped on my ride and took a couple of photos. I’m no expert in botanical knowledge, especially plant identification. But with the help of Google Photos, the yellow blossoms turned out to be tansy ragwort.
That’s a noxious weed that arrived in Oregon as an invasive plant a century ago and eventually became a big problem. The plant contains a toxin that kills horses and cattle that graze on it.
In the 1980s and ’90s, as I remember, Oregon made a big effort to control tansy, and it seemed to work for a while. Then the weed made a comeback.
You can read about tansy in this detailed publication of the OSU Extension Service.
As for the duplex under construction on the corner, at 695 Thurston SE, it’s the kind of middle housing that has been popping up in recent years on vacant lots all over the older parts of town. The city building permit says each of the two units will have two bedrooms, two bathrooms and a garage.
The people who eventually live there won’t have horses, or cattle either, presumably, so the tansy outside should not be of grave concern. (hh)
This is the tansy batch on th north side of Second Avenue near Thurston Street.
Thee duplex under construction on the northwest corner of Second Avenue and Thurston Street, on July 19, 2026.
A few years back, I lived out by Sodaville and Tansy would grow along some of the road ditches near my home. I don’t remember the exact time of the year but at some point, small yellow and black caterpillars would appear and seem to be devouring the flowers. Later on the caterpillars would “morph” into pretty red and black moths. I had a red and black carpet in my rec room and would occasionally find one of the moths on the carpet.
After some thought, I think it is called a Cinnabar moth.
Yes
The tansy ragwort plant you found should be sprayed with weed killer, even if it is in town and not around horses and cattle. Buy a spray can of “Spruce,” the new weed killer that is in the TV commercial that plays the song, “Who Let the Dogs Out?” …because “Spruce” is not harmful to pets. So, Hasso, put a can of “Spruce” in the storage area on your bike and spray that tansy ragwort.
Years ago we had 5 acres in Dever Conner; purchased Cinnabar caterpillars at
Coastal Farm & Ranch. They ate the few plants we had.
There’s acres of it along Knox Butte Rd
Great joke….cattle & horse’s no problem …
First – remove the blossom so it doesn’t make seed. Then kill the plant. Along Waverly between Grand Prairie and South Albany High – there is a great crop in the median. If the city cannot afford to care for the area they should be responsible for – how can they cite a homeowner for not caring for their property? Tansy is every where. I did see an article that said to wear gloves when pulling the weed – so possibly the same for removing the blossoms? I had not consider the possibility of toxins thru the skin? Do not put the blossoms in the recycle – they should go in the garbage.