Autumn Hawkweed - Hieracium sabaudum

Hieracium sabaudum usually has many leaves, and these are larger and denser near the bottom of the stem. The stem itself is hirsute, and the underside of the leaves are softly hairy. The leaf blades are lanceolate with toothed margins. The yellow rayed flowers resemble small dandelions and there may be multiple flowers in a loose cluster at the top of each stem.

Many other Hawkweeds

Identifying most Hieracium to species-level is extremely difficult, and can only be done from a speciemen by an expert in the genus.  Stace (4th edition) separates the 415 microspecies into 15 sections which can be identified with care on the basis of leaf characteristics. 

A specimen is required for verification

Railway verges, waste areas and scrub.

In flower during August, September and October.

Perennial

Widespread but local in Britain but with a mainly northern and western distribution.

Described in the 2011 Flora of Leicestershire as rare in our area, with the only recent record coming from Ulverscroft Nature Reserve in 2007. It was not recorded in the 1979 Flora survey of Leicestershire.