LESSER HAWKBIT

Leontodon saxatilis

Daisy & Dandelion Family [Asteraceae]

Flowers:
month8may month8jun month8june month8jul month8july month8aug month8sep month8sept month8oct

Pappus: pappusZpossible (fawn, simple)
pappus8aug pappus8sep pappus8sept pappus8oct pappus8nov pappus8dec

status
statusZnative
flower
flower8yellow
inner
inner8purple
morph
morph8actino
petals
petalsZMany
stem
stem8round
stem
stem8ribbed
sex
sexZbisexual

1st Sept 2018, Moore Nature Reserve, Warrington, Cheshire. Photo: © RWD
The basal rosettes of leaves are much smaller than those of Rough Hawkbit allowing your Author to get a lot of them in the photo at once without standing on ladders. From this distance, the basal leaf rosettes look like grass, but it is not.


1st Sept 2018, Moore Nature Reserve, Warrington, Cheshire. Photo: © RWD
The larger basal rosette near top left - the one with far fewer leaves, is not of Lesser Hawkbit, but of another plant.


1st Sept 2018, Moore Nature Reserve, Warrington, Cheshire. Photo: © RWD
From nearer, the basal rosettes of Lesser Hawkbit are flat on the ground (unlike the larger basal rosettes of Rough Hawkbit which are angled off the ground, and are much hairier with larger leaves).


8th July 2017, a park garden, Waterloo, Sefton Coast Photo: © RWD
An identifying feature between Rough Hawkbit (on the Left) and Lesser Hawkbit (on the Right) is that on Rough Hawbit they are directed upwards whereas on Lesser Hawkbit they are smaller and mostly lying along the ground.


15th Aug 2016, Llandudno, North Wales. Photo: © RWD
The specimen from Llandudno is a more normal specimen, with no hairs on the phyllaries and sparse hairs elsewhere (here extremely short).


15th Aug 2016, Llandudno, North Wales. Photo: © RWD
The inner 3 teeth look reddish on each petal beneath (but not from above). The phyllaries are also reddish-edged.


15th Aug 2016, Llandudno, North Wales. Photo: © RWD
The female disc florets on the outside are long and with 2 paler stigmas recurving away from each other.


15th Aug 2016, Llandudno, North Wales. Photo: © RWD
The disc florets in the centre of the inflorescence.


8th June 2016, coastal cliffs, Hightown, Sefton Coast. Photo: © RWD
The flowering heads are solitary on both Rough Hawkbit and Lesser Hawkbit but smaller at 12-20mm across on Lesser Hawbit (larger at 25-40mm across on Rough Hawkbit).


8th June 2016, coastal cliffs, Hightown, Sefton Coast. Photo: © RWD


8th June 2016, coastal cliffs, Hightown, Sefton Coast. Photo: © RWD
The involucral bracts are hairless or only sparsely hairy on Lesser Hawkbit (conspicuously hairy on Rough Hawkbit).


8th June 2016, coastal cliffs, Hightown, Sefton Coast. Photo: © RWD
Involucral bracts here are sparsely hairy.


1st Sept 2018, Moore Nature Reserve, Warrington, Cheshire. Photo: © RWD
A very slim and almost hairless example.


1st Sept 2018, Moore Nature Reserve, Warrington, Cheshire. Photo: © RWD
And we'll all grow together
To pluck mountain Thyme
All around the blooming Heather
Will ye go, Lassie go.


1st Sept 2018, Moore Nature Reserve, Warrington, Cheshire. Photo: © RWD
Unlike Rough Hawkbit where the leaves are held aloft more or less upright, those of Lesser Hawkbit are flat along the ground and with either no hairs or far fewer hairs.


1st Sept 2018, Moore Nature Reserve, Warrington, Cheshire. Photo: © RWD
Any short hairs have a tiny pimple at their base (best seen on the upper central leaf).


Not to be semantically confused with : Hawksbeards (Crepis) nor with Hawkweeds (Picris) [plants with similar names in differing genera but all are within the same Asteraceae family]

Many similarities to Smooth Cat's-ear (Hypochaeris glabra) which has much wider bracts/phyllaries around the flower than other Cat's-ears, it is especially confusable with that, apart from the fact the Smooth Cat's-ear lacks the smaller and much narrower bracts around the wide bracts.

Some similarities to : Cat's-ears (Hypochaeris) which have similar leaves but with usually wider gaps between the teeth. They are told apart from the differing lengths of bracts around the lower part of the flower on Cat's-ears (which are all the same full-length on Hawbits), the abrupt change in diameter from stem to flower on Cat's-ears (the stem gradually merges with the flower on Hawkbits) and the 'cockscomb' on Cat's-ears - where the ending of each bract is finely divided into a tiny comb, and the much more pronounced scales (short flaps) on the stems of Cat's-ears (smaller and fewer on Hawkbits).

Some resemblance to : Hawkweeds (Hieracium) but these are usually branched, as are some Hawksbeards (Crepis) whereas Hawkbits (Leontodon) and Cat's-ears (Hypochaeris) are not branched.

Lesser Hawkbit is most reliably differentiated from Rough Hawkbit by close observation of the seed-clock: the inner seeds of Lesser Hawkbit have long hairs but the outer circle of the seeds are capped by a slightly-splayed collar of paler-brown short chaffy scales.


  Leontodon saxatilis  ⇐ Global Aspect ⇒ Asteraceae  

Distribution
 family8Daisy & Dandelion family8Asteraceae
 BSBI maps
genus8Leontodon
Leontodon
(Hawkbits)

LESSER HAWKBIT

Leontodon saxatilis

Daisy & Dandelion Family [Asteraceae]