Hawkbit, Autumn

Information on Autumn Hawkbit

Common Name: Autumn Hawkbit
Scientific Name: Scorzoneroides autumnalis
Irish Name: Crág phortáin
Family Group: Asteraceae
Distribution: View Map (Courtesy of the BSBI)
Flowering Period


Click for list of all flowering by month
Autumn Hawkbit could sometimes be confused with:

Hawk's-beard, Beaked, Hawkbit, Lesser,

Autumn Hawkbit is a hairless perennial which is usually found on dry grassland and acid soil. Reaching about 25 cm high, it bears bright golden-yellow flower-heads (15 – 30 across) on branched stems, the back of the outer strap-shaped ray-florets being streaked reddish. Below these Dandelion-like flower-heads, there is a tapering involucre or ring of overlapping bracts. Along the stems are small, scale-like bracts. There is a basal rosette of oblong leaves which are deeply pinnate with narrow wavy lobes. Flowering from July to October, this is a native plant which belongs to the Asteraceae family.

I first recorded this plant on a field-trip in 2010 with the BSBI Vice-County Recorder, Paul Green, who identified it for me. I photographed it at that time.

If you are satisfied you have correctly identified this plant, please submit your sighting to the National Biodiversity Data Centre

The generic name Leontodon is Latin for lion’s tooth, in much the same way as Dandelion is derived from the French Dent de lion which has a similar translation. This is a description of the leaves which have deep lobes somewhat like the teeth of a lion.

Hawkbit, Autumn
Hawkbit, Autumn
Hawkbit, Autumn