Saturday 13 August 2022

Sorting out the Hawkish Complex flowers

I get various Hawbits and Catsears here at The Beeches. Earlier in the season identification seems straightforward enough with clear specimens of Rough Hawkbit and Catsear growing, sometimes in profusion. The Catsears have fairly glabrous stems, often multiple flowerheads per stem. A bract on the stem and are quite tall often and the hairs on the leaves are not forked. Rough Hawkbits also quite tall, hairy stems and bracts, single flowers and have forked hairs on the leaves. Later in the season it all gets a bit confusing so I got out the hand lens and USB microscope and examined some specimens yesterday. Specimen 1 A mostly glabrous stem, leaves that are bluntish at the end and not very sticky outy with unforked hairs and a reddish colour under the outer rays That is a Catsear (photo). Specimen 2 A sparsely hairy, smallish in height, with forked hairs, single flowers and somewhat sticky out leaves and greyish green colour under the outer rays . This is Lesser Hawkbit which I thought I had but I am now sure. Specimen 3 Sticky out leaves with pointy end and unforked hairs, more than one flower on stem and grey colour under the outer rays. This is Autumn Hawkbit which I don't think I had recorded before. The Rough Hawkbits are no longer in flower so I didn't come across any of them.

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