Al Schneider's Rocky Mountains Plant Descriptions

Largeflower Hawksbeard
Crepis occidentalis
Aster family (Asteraceae)

The Hawksbeards belong to that class of Sunflower that have only and herbage with milky juice. Crepis occidentalis often grows in dense, upright clusters, has deeply and stem leaves somewhat similar to those of a Dandelion, and has bright golden/yellow flower heads composed only of . "Occidentalis" is Latin for "Western." Nathaniel Wyeth collected the first specimens of this plant for his botanist friend, Thomas Nuttall, and Nuttall named the plant Crepis occidentalis in 1834.


©2008 Steve Matson

Description

, 4-16" tall. Leaves are slightly to moderately covered with short, woolly white hair, the up to 12" long, once or twice , the or triangular. Leaves higher on the stem are much smaller and have fewer . The 2-25 flower heads are narrow, 1/2-1" high and 1/4-1/2" wide, and cylindrical in shape - especially before they open. The flowers are yellow, with up to an 1" across, each flower head containing only 12-30 , and no flowers.

Field Marks

Sunflower family plant with yellow flowers containing only , no flowers; leaves usually twice and variously covered with short white hair.

© Al Schneider

corolla -- The name for all the petals of a flower taken together.

lobe -- Being divided by clefts.

pinnatifid -- A leaf shape that is pinnately lobed but not cut all the way to the axis.

lobe -- A rounded parts of a leaf (or other organ).

A herb is a plant whose stems die back to the ground in the winter.

ray flowers -- The outer petals of a sunflower or daisy are ray flowers.

disc flowers are those in the center of a sunflower or daisy. Not a ray flower.

basal -- at the base, situated or attached at the base.

basal leaves -- a leaf that grows lowest on the stem of a plant.

genus -- A subdivision of a botanical Family in which all members have a significant number of similar characteristics.

pinnately lobed -- Having lobes pinnately arranged on the central axis.

lanceolate -- Lance-shaped. Long, wider in the middle.

A perennial plant lives and blooms for many years.