Rough Hawkbit and Mouse-ear-hawkweed

These two natives are in the family Asteraceae.  Classification of  yellow-flowered composites is very complicated and the subject of huge debate by botanists. I do not feel qualified to enter that debate but hope I have discovered some interesting information and enough to identify them in the field.

Rough Hawkbit, Leontodon hispidus

The name Leontodon comes from two Greek words meaning lion's tooth. Here then is the first ID feature seen in the toothed and erect leaves. Secondly, some hairs on the stem and leaves are forked into a Y shape at the extreme tip and hopefully that can be seen here.

The plant is conspicuously hairy. The blooms are held singly on unbranched, leafless stems and the junction of flower head and stem is abrupt. Here in the Gwent Wildlife NR at Pentwyn Farm the stems are about 30 cm long.

 

Mouse-ear-hawkweed, Pilosella officinarum

This is growing on top of a stone wall which mimics one of its habitats - rocky places. ID features include solitary pale lemon-yellow flowers which are striped red below on unbranched, leafless stems

and rosettes of dark green leaves which have scattered long hairs above and contrastingly white-felted undersides. 

The plant, Mouse-ear-hawkweed, has a long history of herbal medicine persisting at least into the twentieth century.

Culpepper recommended Mouse-ear-hawkweed  infused in white wine to ease jaundice and intestinal problems of many kinds. It has anti-bacterial properties and has been used to treat respiratory infections. The herb is collected in May and June when in flower, and dried.

The vernacular English name Hawkweed (and indeed Hawkbit) come via the Greek word hieras, a hawk, from the ancient belief that hawks ate plants from this genus to sharpen their sight. My understanding of the naming of these plants is, of necessity, very simple: Pliny the Elder, in the first century CE, influenced by this belief, named the genus Hieracium in his Naturalis Historia and Linnaeus continued the use of the name. 

Now the Hawkweeds, Hieracium agg are a large group of of microspecies which can only be separated by experts and as said above keen debate continues as modern botanists discover more about these plants. Stace 4 for example says that evidence for generic separation of Pilosella from Hieracium is equivocal. Maybe you will have opinions to be revealed in the comments. I shall be very glad to read them. I undertook this botanical challenge to learn and I am!

Acknowledgements include Stace 4, Harrap's Wild Flowers and websites http://botanical.com/  A Modern herbal by Mrs M Grieve and 

http://www.labunix.uqam.ca/~fg/MyFlora/Asteraceae/Hieracium/hieracium.e.shtml