Common Hawkweed - Hieracium vulgatum f. vulgatum

Short to tall hairy plant, basal leaves (few in number) - lanceolate to oval, toothed, stem leaves similar, the upper smaller and unstalked. Leaves often purple blotched beneath. Flowerheads yellow in a spreading flat topped cluster. Flower bracts hairy and glandular. We have to thank national expert Vince Jones who determined this to species level.

Many other Hawkweeds

Identifying most Hieracium to species-level is extremely difficult, and can only be done from a specimen 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

Rocky grassland and banks.

June to August.

Perennial.

More common in Northern Britain than in the South.

Infrequent in Leicestershire and Rutland. In the 1979 Flora survey of Leicestershire it was found in 13 of the 617 tetrads.