Dandelion-like yellow heads, one per unbranched, leafless, hairy stalk, above a rosette of bristly lobed leaves with forked hairs, in a lime-rich meadow
Rough hawkbit, Leontodon hispidus.
Nature · Wildflowers & flowers
Rough hawkbit
Native · flowers summer to early autumn · hay meadows, pastures, chalk and limestone grassland
Leontodon hispidus — Asteraceae
A dandelion-like perennial of lime-rich meadows and pastures, with a rosette of coarsely hairy, lobed leaves and a single bright yellow flower head on each leafless, unbranched stalk. It is a familiar 'yellow daisy' of old grassland. Forked hairs on the leaves and the drooping flower buds help to separate it from dandelion and the other hawkbits.
How to spot them
- ▸Rosette of coarsely hairy, lobed leaves; the hairs are forked (Y-shaped) or hooked, giving a rough feel
- ▸Leafless, unbranched flower stalks, each bearing a single yellow, dandelion-like head with reddish or greyish stripes beneath the outer florets
- ▸Flower buds nod before opening, then stand upright
- ▸Solid, hairy stalks, unlike the hollow, almost hairless dandelion stalks
- ▸Autumn hawkbit has branched stems with small scale-like bracts, smaller heads and hairless leaves
How to know it
Its genus name means 'lion's tooth', the same image as dandelion, and its epithet means bristly
Leontodon hispidus — rough hawkbit.
Look with a lens at the leaf hairs: many are forked like a tiny letter Y, giving the rosette a rough feel
Rough hawkbit.
Distinguish it from a dandelion by its solid, hairy, unbranched stalks and its nodding flower buds
Rough hawkbit.
A yellow 'daisy' of hay meadows, pastures and downland that flowers in summer and early autumn and is bigger and hairier than lesser and autumn hawkbits
Rough hawkbit.
Quick-fire facts
- •Family Asteraceae; Leontodon means 'lion's tooth' and hispidus 'bristly'
- •RHS describes it as a native perennial forming a rosette of coarsely hairy, lobed leaves, with leafless, unbranched stalks bearing yellow dandelion-like heads in summer and early autumn
- •BSBI notes it in hay meadows, pastures, chalk and limestone downland and other dry grasslands, roadside verges, railway banks and quarries
- •The forked hairs on the leaves are a key identification character among the hawkbits
- •Rough hawkbit is a hay-meadow plant: an estimated 97% of lowland unimproved grassland in England and Wales was lost between 1930 and 1984 (Fuller 1987, cited by the JNCC)
- •Flower heads open only in sunshine, closing in the afternoon or in dull weather
- •Often confused with cat's-ear and autumn hawkbit, which have branched stems with scale-like bracts
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Sources
- Royal Horticultural Society — Leontodon hispidus (rough hawkbit)
- Botanical Society of Britain & Ireland — Leontodon hispidus L. (Rough Hawkbit)