Crepis vesicaria, Beaked Hawk's-beard

Common Name: Beaked Hawk's-beard

Crepis vesicaria is a species of flowering plant in the daisy family with the common name Beaked Hawk's-beard. It is native to Western and Southern Europe, from Ireland and Portugal in the west to east as far as Germany, Austria, and Greece.

Crepis vesicaria is an annual, biennial, or perennial herb up to 120 cm tall, and each plant can have as many as 20 flower heads, each with up to 70 ray florets but no disc florets. It grows on grassy and waste places, roadsides and banks.

A prominent plant, Crepis vesicaria stands erect, with many branches, each ending in its own dandelion-like flower. The underside of the flower has two layers of leaf-like phyllaries. The inner layer is longer and pointed, and often curls back away from the rest of the flower head. The outer layer is substantially shorter.

Widespread in the UK north to Yorkshire.

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