Meadow hawkweed
Prepared by Jennifer L. D’Appollonio, Assistant Scientist, University of Maine, Orono, ME 04469. Updated February 2018.
Scientific name: Hieracium caespitosum Dumort.; old Hieracium pratense Tausch
Common name(s): meadow hawkweed, yellow hawkweed, field hawkweed, yellow paintbrush, devil’s paintbrush, yellow devil
Links: USDA PLANTS Profile, Go Botany
Images: (to see enlargements [PC]: click on image, then right click and choose “view image”)
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- pre-flower, early June
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- note hairy upper and lower leaf surfaces
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- in flower, early June
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- multiple flowerheads
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- leaf detail
Description:
– perennial
– generally flowers June to July in ME
– generally fruits July, August in ME
-can reach 1-2 feet tall
-mostly leafless stem
-leaves are
- Ovate
- alternate
- hairy
- basal untoothed leaves
- 2″-5″ long and 1/2″-7/8″ wide.
-Dandelion-like flower, orange-yellow, up to 1/2″ across.
– may be confused with H. praealtum, which has a slight bloom and few hairs on the upper leaf surface; see left sidebar of Go Botany webpage
Habitat:
-disturbed sites
-meadows and fields
-shores of rivers
Natural History:
-Native to Europe
Source(s):
Hansen, R.W., S.B. Hansen and E.A. Osgood. 1991. Reproductive phenologies of selected flowering plants in eastern Maine forests. ME Agric. Exp. Station Tech. Bull. 143. 17 pp.
Heinrich, B. 1976. Flowering phenologies: Bog, woodland, and disturbed habitats. Ecology. 57(5):890-899.
Go Botany. “Hieracium Caespitosum Dumort.” Hieracium Caespitosum (Yellow Hawkweed): Go Botany, 2021, gobotany.nativeplanttrust.org/species/hieracium/caespitosum/.