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20199463 (2)SharpenAI-Focus.jpg Orange Hawkweed - Hieracium aurantiacum

None of the Hawkweeds are now much used in herbal treatment, though in many parts of Europe they were formerly employed as a constant medicine in diseases of the lungs, asthma and incipient consumption, but the small Mouse-ear Hawkweed, known commonly as Mouse-ear is still collected and used by herbalists for its ...

 

A Modern Herbal | Hawkweed, Mouse-Ear - Botanical.comwww.botanical.com › botanical › mgmh › hawmou08

 

Description

It is a low-growing plant with shallow fibrous roots and a basal rosette of elliptical to lanceolate leaves 5–20 centimetres (2.0–7.9 in) long and 1–3 centimetres (0.39–1.18 in) broad.[4] All parts of the plant exude a milky juice. The flowering stem is usually leafless or with just one or two small leaves. The stem and leaves are covered with short stiff hairs (trichomes), usually blackish in color. The stems may reach a height of 60 centimetres (24 in) and have 2–25 capitula (flowerheads), each 1–2+1⁄2 cm diameter, bundled together at the end of short pedicels. The flowers are orange, almost red, which is virtually invisible to bees, yet they also reflect ultraviolet light, increasing their conspicuousness to pollinators.[5] The flowers are visited by various insects, including many species of bees, butterflies, pollinating flies.[5] The flowers themselves come in a range of colors from a deep rust-orange to a pure yellow and often show striking gradients of color.

 

The plant propagates through its wind-dispersed seeds, and also vegetatively by stolons and shallow rhizomes.

 

Cultivation and uses

 

Pilosella aurantiaca showing dense habit and flowering.

P. aurantiaca is widely grown as an ornamental plant in gardens for its very decorative flowers. It is often used in wildflower gardens because its bright orange flowers are highly attractive to a wide array of pollinators.

 

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Uploaded on September 4, 2019
Taken on July 1, 2019