''Scorzoneroides autumnalis'', commonly called autumn hawkbit, is a

perennial plant A perennial plant or simply perennial is a plant that lives more than two years. The term ('' per-'' + '' -ennial'', "through the years") is often used to differentiate a plant from shorter-lived annuals and biennials. The term is also wide ...

species, widespread in its native range in Eurasia (from Europe east to western Siberia), and introduced in North America. The plant is sometimes called fall dandelion, because it is very similar to the

common dandelion ''Taraxacum officinale'', the dandelion or common dandelion, is a flowering herbaceous perennial plant of the dandelion genus in the family Asteraceae (syn. Compositae). The common dandelion is well known for its yellow flower heads that turn in ...

(one of the main differences being a branched stem with several capitulaAutumn Hawkbit
/ref>), but "yellow fields", covered by this plant appear much later than dandelions, towards the autumn in the Eastern Europe. In the Latin synonym of the plant name, ''Leontodon autumnalis'',Parnell, J. and Curtis, T, 2012 ''Webb's An Irish Flora''. Cork University Press."leontodon" means "lion's tooth", the same as "dandelion".

Description

''Scorzoneroides autumnalis'' is a perennial herb growing to 35 cm high usually with branched stems and several flower-heads each about 30 mm across. The florets are all ligulate and bright yellow. The leaves are all basal and linear-oblong.

Reproduction

Flowers in June to October producing

achenes An achene (; ), also sometimes called akene and occasionally achenium or achenocarp, is a type of simple dry fruit produced by many species of flowering plants. Achenes are monocarpellate (formed from one carpel) and indehiscent (they do not ope ...

Habitat

Frequent in damp grassland and meadows.Clapham, A.R., Tutin, T.G. 1968 Excursion Flora of the British Isles. Cambridge University Press

Ecology

The

fly Flies are insects of the Order (biology), order Diptera, the name being derived from the Ancient Greek, Greek δι- ''di-'' "two", and πτερόν ''pteron'' "wing". Insects of this order use only a single pair of wings to fly, the hindwing ...

Tephritis leontodontis ''Tephritis leontodontis'' is a species of fly in the family Tephritidae, the gall flies. It is found in the Palearctic The Palearctic or Palaearctic is the largest of the eight biogeographic realms of the Earth. It stretches across all of E ...

'' is known to attack the capitula of this plant.

Distribution

Abundant in

Ireland Ireland ( ; ga, Éire ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe, north-western Europe. It is separated from Great Britain to its east by the North Channel (Grea ...

and

Great Britain Great Britain is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean off the northwest coast of continental Europe. With an area of , it is the largest of the British Isles, the largest European island and the ninth-largest island in the world. It is ...

References

External links

* * Cichorieae Plants described in 1753 Taxa named by Carl Linnaeus {{Cichorieae-stub