COMMON HAWK WEED 



89 



a xerophyte. It is, moreover, found on banks and in copses, usually 

 in hilly country, like the majority of species, and in this case where the 

 cjround is rocky or covered with a deliris of loose stones. 



Unlike the I\Iouse-ear Hawkuccd this has a tall stem. The leaves 

 are green or bluish-green, and oblong, the radical leaves stalked, in a 

 rosette, toothed in the middle or lower half, the stem-leaves stalk- 

 less. T he leaves are often spotted. 



The flowers are yellow, as in 

 all Hawkweeds, and arranged in a 

 corymb, or panicled, with ascend- 

 ing flower-stalks, with few hairs. 

 The ph\"llaries or scalesare equally 

 narrowed, and the in\olucre or 

 whorl of bracts cylindrical antl 

 subacute. The styles are livid. 



The stem varies in height 

 from 18 in. to 2 ft. Flowers are 

 to be sought between June and 

 September. This plant is per- 

 ennial, and can be propagated by 

 division. 



The flowers are rather larger 

 than in 1 1 ieraciuni Pilosctla, and 

 the flower-stalks are not pros- 

 trate, but the flowerheads borne 

 on erect and longer scapes. They 

 usually occur in shaded districts, 

 so that the visitors to the flowers 

 are different. They are Bombiis, 

 B. ta'restris, B. sihariim, An- 

 drciia, A. dciiticiilata, Halictus 

 cylindricHS, Paiiui-giis, Lepidop- 

 tera, Rhopaloccra, Lyccrna. 



The achenes are provided with a pappus of simi)]e hairs, and dis- 

 persed by the wind when the seeds are ripe. 



'I'his hand.some Hawkweed is a [K;at-loving plant, living on soils 

 in which there is a fair amount of humus, or the plant may be a rock 

 plant and grow on rock soil of differ(;nt types. 



Two fungi, Piicciuia hicracii, Jintylovia calendula-, attack the leaves. 



The second Latin name refers to its wide distribution, but the name 

 refers to an aggregate which has since been split up. 



I'hotf). Hnrwnod 



COiMMON Hawkwkkij {Hieracium 



vulgatuniy Vr.) 



