Yellow Hawkweed

Weeds

indian paintbrush, yellow king-devil, field hawkweed

Hieracium pratense

Photos

yellow hawkweed5.jpg

Yellow hawkweed is a creeping perennial of low maintenance turf, roadsides and native areas. It can be an indicator of low soil fertility or slightly acidic soils. Hawkweed spreads by stolons and rhizomes creating colonies that form patches. The leaves lay flat to the ground and overlap and will smother non-vigorous turf. All parts of hawkweed are conspicuously hairy and, like dandelion, will exude a white milky sap when broken. Bright yellow flowers form in clusters at the top of the 10-20 inch hairy mostly leafless stalks.

  • Crops Affected: turf

    Management

    Hawkweed is an indication of poor or acidic soils or low fertility. Improving the growing conditions for the turf, raising the mowing height and increasing fertilization, will almost certainly minimize the ability of hawkweed to compete with the turfgrass.

    Similar Species

    Yellow hawkweed is very similar to orange hawkweed. The main and obvious difference is the bright orange flower color. False dandelion, also know as common catsear, also produces yellow flowers and has a similar hairy leaf texture to hawkweed. However, the irregularly lobed leaf shape of false dandelion is distinctly different from the entire margins of hawkweed.

    The flower of yellow hawkweed can be confused with dandelion. Dandelion flowers earlier than hawkweed and only produces one flower per stalk. Yellow hawkweed produces several flowers per stalk and alway appears in patches instead of single plants.

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