Scientific name: Pilosella officinarum F.W. Schultz & Sch. Bip.
Common name: Mouse-ear Hawkweed
Description
Habit: Perennial, 15-25 cm high.
Stems: Flowering stem leafless and hairy; leafy, creeping runners arising from the leaf rosette.
Leaves: In a basal rosette; oblong-lanceolate, with long hairs on both surfaces and margins; densely hairy beneath, appearing white.
Flowers: Lemon yellow usually with a red stripe on outer surface, flower-heads single or few per flower stalk; all florets ligulate.
Fruits: An achene, pappus of dirty-white brittle unbranched hairs.
Very similar to Hieracium; distinct, in Ireland, by the leafless flowering stems and the presence of runners.
Habitat: Banks, roadsides, rocky ground, sand dunes, rough grazing.
Distribution: Very frequent to abundant throughout most of the region.
Native status: Native
Of conservation interest: No