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.
Native
hawkweeds reproduce by seed only.
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
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