Hysterical reaction to valuable species

DEAR Editor, As someone who has studied ragwort for many years I have to disagree with your article (July 30) on ragwort and high speed rail – ‘HS2 turns fields to waste’.

Ragwort is subject to misinformation.

It has been accused of poisoning the cinnabar moth and causing its decline, but it actually needs the plant as food for its caterpillars.

Its seeds do not travel widely, as was claimed. Neither do they last for 20 years in the soil. It is not an invasive plant, a term used by scientists to describe a foreign problem plant, but a native which is among our most valuable to insects. It is not a risk to dogs. There are no poisoning cases in the literature. It certainly is not a risk to people.

It is not a legal requirement to get rid of the plant. In extreme circumstances you may be ordered to control it but otherwise there is no responsibility to do anything.

There are two problems. These are where some kinds of farm animals are fed considerable quantities in hay and where those animals are cruelly starved into eating it.

The evidence from the latest scientific literature is clear. Poisoning is rare. Government research shows that of more than 7,000 plant species in Britain ragwort is the seventh most important nectar-producing plant supporting wild bees and butterflies. It has another ironic use that is significant in this context. It was once used as a herbal treatment for hysteria.

Neil Jones, Neath, Wales