SafePlants

Crepis paludosa: Marsh Hawk's-beard

Crepis paludosa, commonly known as marsh hawk's-beard, is a fascinating plant belonging to the dandelion tribe within the sunflower family.

Taxonomy and Nomenclature

• Scientific Name: Crepis paludosa (L.) Moench
• Common Name: Marsh Hawk's-beard
• Family: Asteraceae (Sunflower family), Compositae
• Synonyms:
  • Aracium attenuatum Opiz
  • Aracium paludosum (L.) Dulac
  • Aracium paludosum (L.) Monnier
  • Barkhausia paludosa Baumg. ex DC.
  • Crepis paludosa var. brachyotus Celak.

Distribution and Habitat

• Widespread across much of Europe.
• Characteristically found in damp, rocky ravines, by waterfalls, or on rocky streamsides.
• Fairly frequent across Northern Ireland.
• It grows mainly in higher locations on conditioned and damp meadows.

Morphological Characteristics

• Herb, perennial, 25-100 cm high.
• Rhizome strong.
• Flowering stems are erect, sulcate, pale green, often tinged red near the base, glabrous, branched in the upper half.
• Grows to a height of 30-120 cm, loosely branched at the top, with 3 to many flower heads, sparsely leaved, hairless.
• Upper leaves clasp the stem with a pair of rounded basal lobes. These lobes are rounded, ignoring the "pointing" effect of the teeth.
• Basal leaves are ovate to lanceolate, irregularly toothed or lobed.
• Yellow flowerheads in loose arrangements.

Ecological Role

• Food source for certain moths, including Diasemia reticularis and Hecatera bicolorata (Broad-barred White), and Shark.

Additional Information

• In England, it has declined at the southern edge of its range since the 1962 Atlas.

Resources

• Germplasm Resources Information Network (GRIN), U.S. Department of Agriculture Agricultural Research Service
• RHS (Royal Horticultural Society)
• The Plant List
• IPNI (International Plant Names Index)
• NYBG (New York Botanical Garden) Virtual Herbarium
• Discover Life
• FloraWeb