Hieracium aurantiacum

Plants 15-35(-60+) cm. Stems proximally piloso-hirsute (hairs 2-4+ mm), distally piloso-hirsute (hairs 1-4 mm) and stipitate-glandular. Leaves: basal 3-8+, cauline 0(-1+); blades spatulate to oblanceolate, 45-70(-160+) × 10-35 mm, lengths 3-5+ times widths, bases cuneate, margins entire, apices acute, faces piloso-hirsute (hairs 1-2+ mm) and stellate-pubescent. Heads 3-7(-12+) in ± umbelliform arrays. Peduncles stellate-pubescent and stipitate-glandular. Calyculi: bractlets 5-8+. Involucres campanulate, 6-8 mm. Phyllaries 13-30+, apices acuminate, abaxial faces piloso-hirsute, stellate-pubescent, and stipitate-glandular. Florets 25-120+; corollas orange (drying scarlet to purplish), 10-14+ mm. Cypselae columnar, 1.2-1.5(-2) mm; pappi of 25-30+, white bristles in 1 series, 3.5-4 mm.

Flowering (May-)Jun-Aug(-Sep). Disturbed sites (fields, lawns, roadsides), bogs, clays, sands; introduced; 10-300(-1000+) m; St. Pierre and Miquelon; Alta., B.C., Man., N.B., Nfld. and Labr., N.S., Ont., P.E.I., Que., Sask.; Alaska, Ark., Calif., Colo., Conn., Fla., Ga., Idaho, Ill., Ind., Iowa, Ky., Maine, Md., Mass., Mich., Minn., Mont., N.H., N.J., N.Y., N.C., Ohio, Oreg., Pa., R.I., S.Dak., Tenn., Vt., Va., Wash., W.Va., Wis., Wyo.; Europe.

Much like no. 4 [Hieracium caespitosum Dumort.], but the fls red-orange (unique among our spp.), becoming deeper red in drying; plants 1-6 dm, with slender stolons and ordinarily with a slender, elongate rhizome; lvs sometimes a little wider, up to 3.5 cm; invol long-setose, hispid with blackish, gland-tipped hairs, and slightly tomentose; 2n=18, 27, 36, 45, 54, 63, 72. A weed of fields, roadsides, and meadows; native of Europe, now widespread in se. Can. and ne. U.S., s. to N.C. and W.Va., and w. to Minn. and Io. June-Sept.

Gleason, Henry A. & Cronquist, Arthur J. 1991. Manual of vascular plants of northeastern United States and adjacent Canada. lxxv + 910 pp.

©The New York Botanical Garden. All rights reserved. Used by permission.

From Flora of Indiana (1940) by Charles C. Deam

In 1934 I found this hawkweed in the sandy commons on the south side of Simonton Lake in Elkhart County. In 1935 I found it in a sandy, waste field and in an adjoining open woodland on the north side of Weber Lake in Steuben County. It is an obnoxious weed in the eastern states and, unfortunately, it is now cultivated as an ornamental plant in Indiana. It will doubtless soon escape in many parts of the state if it has not already done so. Usually called Devil's-paint-brush.

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Indiana Coefficient of Conservatism: C = null, non-native

Wetland Indicator Status: N/A