Beaked Hawk’s-beard, Crepis vesicaria, is in flower right now, in and around Norwich, its bright yellow flowers livening up grass verges and path edges.

I pass Beaked Hawk’s-beard on grass verges when I walk to the local shops. On Monday we found it by a gravel path on the Yare Valley Walk on the western edge of Norwich. Last week we cycled past a nice patch of it at Taverham when crossed the Norwich’s Northern Distributor Road (NDR) on the Marriott’s Way cycle path.

Beaked Hawk’s-beard, Crepis vesicaria. Marriott’s Way bridge, Taverham. 9th May 2024.

In the southern half of the British Isles Crepis vesicaria is “the earliest, leafy-stemmed branched dandelion-type to come into flower, very conspicuously, on May roadsides” (note 1). You can find it in flower in the British Isles from May to July.

Considering its abundance in southern Britain, you may be surprised to discover that Beaked Hawk’s-beard is a neophyte, a non-native plant introduced to the British Isles since 1492.

Crepis vesicaria was first recorded in Kent in 1713. It spread rapidly and by 1896 it had reached the west coast of Ireland. It continues to spread and is now well-established in north-east England and spreading in western England, Wales and Ireland. It has a limited distribution in Scotland – so far – perhaps limited by climate.

Crepis vesicaria is a member of the Daisy family, Asteraceae (formerly known as the Compositae) and each flower head is a composite structure consisting of lots of individual small flowers (florets) (note 2).

Beaked Hawk’s-beard is usually a biennial, flowering in its second year, but it does occasionally grow as an annual or perennial. In its first year it produces stalked, deeply lobed basal leaves covered in light down, which persist over winter. In its second year the plant sends up stems clasped by narrow leaves, which branch into multiple flowering stems, each topped with a yellow dandelion-type flower head. The outer ray florets of the flower have an orange-red stripe on the underside (note 3). If cut, the stems bleed bluish-white sap (note 1).

After flowering, Beaked Hawk’s-beard sets seed. Crepis vesicaria seeds have a narrow, elongated “beak” at the top, between the seed and the tuft of silky white hairs (pappus) that serves to distribute the seed in the wind. Hence the name “Beaked Hawk’s-beard” (sometimes spelt “Beaked Hawksbeard”).

There are great photos of Beaked Hawksbeard on the Wild Flower Finder website and Mike Crewe’s Flora of East Anglia has a page of Hawkweeds, Hawk’s-beards & Allies which are useful for comparing Crepis vesicaria with its relatives.

Beaked Hawk’s-beard, Crepis vesicaria. On a pathside in Norwich, 13th May 2024.

In the British Isles, Beaked Hawk’s-beard mainly grows in disturbed sites: on the verges of paths, tracks and roads, on railway banks, arable margins, set-aside, pavements, gardens, allotments, in waste places and in rough grassland, meadows, lawns and old pits.

Beaked Hawk’s-beard was introduced into Britain from the Mediterranean, probably as a contaminant of grass seed (note 4). It is a native of southern Europe, Turkey, and North Africa (Algeria, Morocco and Tunisia).

As well as the British Isles, Crepis vesicaria has been introduced into the United States (California, Connecticut, Hawaii, New York, North Carolina, Oregon and Pennsylvania), Canada (British Columbia) and Australia (South Australia and Victoria).

The Plants of the World Online website lists nine subspecies of Crepis vesicaria. Most British Beaked Hawk’s-beard plants are Crepis vesicaria subspecies taraxacifolia and have long beaks on all their achenes. But some plants from Cambridgeshire have outer achenes with very short beaks, provisionally making them subsp. stellata (note 5).

In the Norwich area, Beaked Hawk’s-beard is often attended by a solitary bee slightly smaller than a Honeybee, the Cat’s-ear Mining Bee, Andrena humilis.

Andrena humilis is widespread but very localised in southern and central Britain north to Cumbria and Norwich is one of its hotspots. It nests on heathland, coastal grassland, chalk downland and brownfield sites, as well as in large aggregations alongside bare footpaths. The adults forage on dandelions, Cat’s-ear, Mouse-ear Hawkweed and hawk’s-beards. Other bees also visit Beaked Hawk’s-beard flowers, such as species of Furrow Bees (Lasioglossum sp.).

Beaked Hawk’s-beard, Crepis vesicaria, with visiting Catsear Mining Bee, Andrena humilis.

The Plants For A Future website says that Beaked Hawk’s-beard leaves are edible and can be eaten in a salad but they have a bitter taste. I’m not tempted.

If you want to grow Beaked Hawk’s-beard in your garden it is very easy to grow from seed collected from wild plants. I did this one year but it didn’t establish in our densely planted, north-facing back garden. It should do well in a sunny site with some bare soil – perhaps too well.

Notes

Note 1 – “Harrap’s Wild Flowers: A Field Guide to the Wild Flowers of Britain & Ireland”, page 266. Simon Harrap (Bloomsbury, 2013). Dandelions and Coltsfoot come into flower earlier but their flowerheads are borne on single stems.

Note 2 – I have already written about some of its relatives, including Marsh Sowthistle (August 2023), Common Fleabane (July 2022) and Broad-leaved Ragwort (September 2021).

Note 3 – Beaked Hawk’s-beard close relative, Smooth Hawk’s-beard (Crepis capillaris), also has this stripe and multiple flowerheads but it is a daintier plant that flowers slightly later in the year.

Note 4 – From page 420,  “Alien Plants’” by Clive A. Stace and Michael J. Crawley (Harper Collins, 2015).

Note 5 – Page 756, “New Flora of the British Isles“ by Clive Stace, Fourth Edition, 2019. Stace’s Flora lists ten species of Crepis (Hawk’s-beards) in the British Isles.