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Leafy hawkweed

 

 

A quite pretty perennial from the daisy family (Compositae) that prefers drier habitats and still flowers in September. We can see it at road verges, in dry meadows, on shores and fallow lands and there they often form small groups.

 

The stalk, densely set with leaves, has very different hairs depending on the habitat. It grows up to about thirty centimetres in height but in competition with other plants may stretch to half a metre. Flower pickers gets blotchy hands from the milky sap, similar to that of the dandelion; in a vase a largish bunch of hawkweed is quite impressive.