Hawkweed Complex

Hieracium spp.

Family: Asteraceae

Description and Life Cycle

Fibrous-rooted, perennial, herbaceous plants, closely related to dandelion and chicory. Bristly haired, narrow, elongated leaves (10-15 cm) attached near ground level form a basal rosette. Flowering stalks are usually singular and leafless, rising from the rosette's center and can be from 15 to 90 cm in height. Stalks contain a milky, latex sap. Flowerheads (1-2 cm diameter) mature mid-summer and each produces 12-50 tiny, black, elongated seeds, bearing a tuft of whitish hairs (pappus), making the seeds easily windborne. All can reproduce by seed or without seed(vegetatively) by use of strawberry-like runners (stolons). Most stolon tips develop into small, daughter rosettes that become new plants.

Notes

Many hawkweeds are native to North America and therefore are not considered to be pest plants. The alien hawkweeds discussed on this page interbreed freely, making positive identifications difficult in many instances. Hybrids may exhibit characteristics of a few different species.

Hawkweed key

Key to Identification of Invasive and native Hawkweeds (Hieracium spp.) in the Pacific Northwest - Forest Practices Branch, Ministry of Forests (pdf 4216KB)

References

MFR staff observations and comments