Common Name: Hawkweeds
Description: Herbs, perennial, rosette-forming. Stem solitary but plants often stoloniferous.
Rosette leaves sessile, margin entire or rarely denticulate.
Capitula solitary or corymbose. Involucre ovoid to hemispheric, mostly 6–10 mm diam. Florets numerous, yellow, rarely pale yellow or orange-red, outer ones sometimes red striped.
Achenes mostly 1–2 mm long, ribbed; ribs very shortly extending beyond the apex. Pappus white or off-white, composed of scabrid bristles.
Distribution and occurrence: Natural distribution includes North Africa, Asia, and Europe. A genus of around 110 broadly defined species but with c. 700 named apomictic or hybrid taxa. Hawkweeds are highly invasive plants and are a major threat to biodiversity, conservation areas and native grasslands. Australia: 3 species naturalised; NSW: 2 species.
HAWKWEEDS ARE DECLARED NOXIOUS and must be continuously suppressed and destroyed. If you find hawkweed or something similar in your area, contact your Council Weeds Officer or NSW Department of Primary Industries immediately.
| | Key to the species | |
| 1 | Flowering scape with multiple capitula; corolla orange | Pilosella aurantiaca |
| Flowering scape with a single capitulum; corolla yellow | Pilosella officinarum |
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