Hieracium

Hieracium 

(hawkweed), a genus of perennial pubescent herbs of the family Compositae. The leaves are entire or deeply toothed; the basal ones are usually in rosettes. The bisexual flowers are ligulate and usually yellow. They are in heads, which are solitary or gathered into a common inflorescence. The fruit is an achene. Many species reproduce by means of apomixis.

There are about 1,000 species (or 15,000 “small” species), distributed in the cold and temperate belts, primarily in the northern hemisphere. The plants also occur on tropical mountains. The USSR has about 700 species. The most common are H. pilosella and Ft. umbellatum. The former grows in meadows, in timber-felling areas, and along roads. H. umbellatum occurs in pine groves, in dry and floodplain meadows, on long-fallow land, and in fallow fields. Some species are cultivated as ornamentals.

REFERENCE

Iuksip, A. Ia. “Rod Hieracium L.—Iastrebinka.” In Flora SSSR, vol. 30. Moscow-Leningrad, 1960.

T. V. EGOROVA