Orange Hawkweed
Orange Hawkweed, King-Devil
Hieracium aurantiacum L.
Asteraceae (Sunflower Family)
▲ colony of mature plants
▲ individual crown with flowering stem and rhizome
▲ small cluster of crowns
▲ larger colony in lawn area
▲ closer view of leaves in colony, showing stiff hairs on leaves
▲ ▼ flowering stems
▲ ▼ flowering stems showing stiff hairs with black base of hairs
▲ ▼ flowering stems showing stiff hairs with black base of hairs
▲ closer view of rigid stem hairs
▲ ▼ inflorescences
▲ ▼ inflorescences
▲ ▼ inflorescences
▲ inflorescences, and fruiting heads
▲ ▼ stems with rhizomes
Hieracium aurantiacum L., Orange Hawkweed: (Bayer Code: HIEAU; US Code: HIAU)
- European native, stolon-producing, creeping perennial weed that produces leafless to nearly leafless stems 6-24 inches tall above a rosette of clustered leaves; stems have many stiff, outspread hairs, many with darker glands at their base, particularly in upper portion of the stems
- Basal rosette leaves are green, alternate, with pointed or round-pointed tips; leaves usually covered with many long, stiff, white hairs, but sometimes may be hairless
- Head inflorescences are 0.5 to 1 inch in diameter, dandelion-like, in clusters at tips of usually leafless stems; heads have no disk flowers, but 25-120 or more orange to red-orange ray flowers; the orange “petals" have 4 notches in their flattened tips
- A single row of bracts below the head form a cylindrical to barrel-shape; individual bracts are green, linear, with long-pointed tips; bracts have a center ridge of black, gland-based hairs; stems just below the heads have the same black hairs
- Flowering is from mid-spring through mid-autumn
- After flowering the florets from the head become a globe of white hairs from the pappus (parachute-like hairs) attached to small, brown to black, mature seed/fruit
- Prefers low-fertility, acidic, sandy soils; found in lawns, cultivated fields, pastures, non-crop areas, right-of-ways
- More common in northern Midwest, and is a problem due to the monocultures it develops as it spreads laterally by stolons
- Similar species:
- Yellow Hawkweed (Hieracium caespitosum) looks very similar to orange hawkweed in leaf shape, growth form and height, except it has bright yellow florets in its flower heads
- Tall Hawkweed (Hieracium piloselloides) looks very similar, but has leaves that are hairless except for long white hairs along the leaf edges, and along the midvein on the leaf undersides
- Common Catsear (Hypochaeris radicata) has similar yellow flowers, but has a more branched, open clustering of flower heads, and individual heads have long supporting stalks; also the basal rosette leaf margins of common catsear are widely lobed, not smooth or toothed, as with yellow hawkweed
- Smooth Hawksbeard (Crepis capillaris) has similar, but smaller, yellow flowers, but they are in larger, more open clusters; plus stems and basal leaves are hairless, and basal leaves have deep, pointed lobes, and there are smaller leaves along the flowering stems
(Updated November 25, 2022)