Crepis tectorum (Narrow-leaf Hawksbeard)
|Also known as:||Yellow Hawk's Beard|
|Habitat:||part shade, sun; dry, sandy, disturbed soil; roadsides, railroads, fields, empty lots, open woods|
|Bloom season:||June - August|
|Plant height:||8 to 40 inches|
|Wetland Indicator Status:||none|
|MN county distribution (click map to enlarge):|
|National distribution (click map to enlarge):|
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Open clusters of up to 20 dandelion-like flowers at the top of the plant and on stems branching from the upper leaf axils. Individual flowers are yellow, about 1 inch across, and have 30 to 70 rays (petals).
There are 2 sets of bracts. The 12 to 15 inner bracts are up to 3/8 inch long and usually sharply pointed at the tip. The outer surface is covered in matted or short stiff hairs, the inner surface covered in fine, appressed hairs. The outer bracts are narrow, half or less as long as the inner bracts, and also covered in matted and/or short stiff hairs.
Leaves and stems:
Leaves change shape as they ascend the stem. There is a rosette of basal leaves, each up to 6 inches long and 1 inch wide, coarsely toothed with a pointed tip and short stalk. Basal leaves mostly wither away as the plant matures. Lower stem leaves are more irregularly toothed or divided with sharply pointed lobes, curled edges, and are mostly stalkless.
The stem leaves quickly lose this shape and progressively become smaller and very narrow, toothless, often with a pair of small lobes (auricles) at the base. Leaves near the top of the plant are less than ¼ inch wide. Stems are branched in the upper and/or lower plant, mostly ridged and variously covered in matted or short, stiff hairs.
A common weed, it was once an agricultural pest and considered a noxious weed in some counties, but Round-up Ready crops took care of that. It resembles the uncommon native Incised Hawksbeard (Crepis runcinata). Narrow-leaf Hawksbeard has 2 characteristics that, combined, separate it from other dandelion-type weeds: the auricles on at least some of the stem leaves, and the inside surface of inner bracts covered in appressed hairs, though magnification may be required to see them clearly.
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- Narrow-leaf Hawksbeard plants
- spindly Narrow-leaf Hawksbeard plant
- lower leaves of robust plant
- early basal rosette
- a field of Narrow-leaf Hawksbeard
Photos by K. Chayka taken at Long Lake Regional Park, Ramsey County. Other photos courtesy Peter M. Dziuk.
Have you seen this plant in Minnesota, or have any other comments about it?