Quick Facts

Quick facts

  • Orange Hawkweed (Hieracium aurantiacum) has a widely known reputation for aggressively spreading, particularly in cool-temperate, often high altitude, areas through the world (e.g. U.S.A., Britain, Canada, New Zealand, mainland Europe away from its natural range).
  • To date, occurrences of Orange Hawkweed in Australia are relatively few and localised.
  • It has been shown to be able to invade intact native vegetation as well as establishing in disturbed sites.
  • Orange Hawkweed spreads by runners over short distances and seed over larger areas

What Does It Look Like?

What is it?

Orange Hawkweed (Hieracium aurantiacum) is a hairy herb with leaves in a basal rosette. When broken, its stems and leaves exude a milky sap. Individual plants spread via lateral leafy shoots (stolons) which take root and produce new leaf tufts. Its leaves are in basal tufts, about 150 mm long and 30 mm wide, broadest slightly above midway and lacking a conspicuous stalk. The margins entire or indistinctly toothed. Both leaf surfaces bearing fine, spreading hairs about 4 mm long.

Its flower heads are quite densely clustered at the end of an erect leafless stem about 350 mm long which is covered with spreading hairs. Each flower head is about 15 to 30 mm in diameter, consisting of several rows of bright reddish-orange florets, all surrounded by one or two rows of narrow green bracts up to 8 mm long.

In fruit, the heads become more distinctly stalked and separated. Orange Hawkweed seeds are narrow-linear I shapes, about 2 mm long and become airborne through the development of a pappus (a parachute like ring of silky hairs) about 6 mm long (Tutin et al. 1976).

For further information and assistance with identification of Orange Hawkweed contact the herbarium in your state or territory.

Flower colour

Orange

Growth form (weed type/habit)

Herb

Where it currently grows? Preferred habitat

Hawkweeds grow naturally in temperate and mountain areas and in Australia, Orange Hawkweed has been recorded establishing in cool areas where the annual rainfall exceeds 1300 mm. Recorded sites on the mainland are all above 1500 m altitude, occurring on alpine humus soils in both disturbed and undisturbed sites supporting Snow Gum (Eucalyptus pauciflora) woodlands or grasslands/open heathlands dominated by snowgrass (Poa) species and low shrubs such as Grevillea australis, Hovea montana and Leucopogon species.

In Tasmania it is known from lower altitudes, down to at least 400 m at Fern Tree, a suburb of Hobart, but also at higher altitudes on the Central Highlands. It may be found on soils derived from a range of parent materials including schist, basalt, dolerite and granite (Walsh 2007, pers. comm.).

Are there similar species?

A similar weed, Hieracium praealtum subsp. bauhinii, also known as King Devil Hawkweed, was recently discovered near Falls Creek Alpine Village, Victoria. It differs in its usually taller flowering stems, up to 70 cm high, and its bright yellow, not orange, flower heads.

Other plants in the milkweed section of the daisy family (Asteraceae: tribe Lactuceae) could possibly be mistaken for Hieracium species when not in flower, but few bear the copious, fine spreading hairs that are characteristic of the two Hieracium species established in Australia.

Many of the members of the tribe produce single flower heads (e.g. Microseris, Taraxacum, Leontodon, Hypochaeris), and of those members of the group that may bear spreading hairs and produce multiple flower-heads (e.g. Picris angustifolia which does occur in similar areas), the heads are not tightly clustered as the flowers open (Walsh 2007, pers. comm.).

Why Is It A Weed?

What are its impacts?

Orange Hawkweed is on the Alert List for Environmental Weeds, a list of 28 non native plants that threaten biodiversity and cause other environmental damage. Although only in the early stages of establishment, these weeds have the potential to seriously degrade Australia's ecosystem.

Native ecosystems: Loss of botanical biodiversity is perhaps the greatest potential impact of Orange Hawkweed. Its ability to quickly establish and spread is evident from the relatively few known outbreaks to date, attributes that are typical of other species of the genus which have become very serious environmental weeds in other countries. In New Zealand, Hieracium pilosella and H. lepidulum have been reported to displace inter-tussock vegetation in Festuca-dominated montane and subalpine moorlands (Rose et al. 1995).

It is conceivable that it would successfully compete with native herbs that occupy inter-tussock spaces in alpine and subalpine grasslands and woodlands, several of which are regarded as rare and/or threatened in Australia (e.g. some Euphrasia species, Euchiton species, Pelargonium helmsii etc.). Outside of natural areas, the species is capable of being a significant weed in lawns, gardens etc (Morgan 2000; Walsh 2007, pers. comm.).

Agriculture: It is likely to impact indirectly on livestock by displacing potentially more nutritious pasture species.

How does it spread?

Hawkweeds spread by both runners and seed, with a one square metre mat producing up to 40 000 seeds a year (CRC 2003). Runners begin to grow from buds in the rosette leaves when the plants are flowering. Depending on growing conditions, plants produce between four and eight leafy runners that can reach lengths of 100-250 mm. These runners form new rosettes and, once established, the patch continues to expand until it covers the site with a solid mat of rosettes. Under ideal conditions, it can form a colony up to 0.5 m cross in its first year. Hawkweeds regrow each year from short, below-ground rhizomes (CRC 2003).

Long-distance dispersal occurs via the wind-blown seeds. Small, presumably young, colonies near Basal Hill, 4 km southeast from Falls Creek Alpine Village, suggest a dispersal range of at least this distant. The seed is clearly viable and able to establish in undisturbed sites, although many infestations are from disturbed sites. A project to map the distribution and spread of the weed in Hobart indicated that movement of seed via water dispersal was also another likely means of dispersal. Other outbreaks have been associated with movement of machinery, so it is likely that seed is carried with soil etc caught on vehicles and soil-moving equipment.

The occurrence in Kosciuszko National Park may be a result of either long-distance wind-dispersal from an unknown source, or the inadvertent transport of seed on hikers' boots or from vehicles or equipment that may have been in the vicinity of populations in Victoria.. The plants' ability to spread vegetatively by producing 'runners' (stolons) enables it to quickly occupy significant areas of vegetation once established. Movement of soil that contains plant fragments is another mechanism by which the plant may spread (Walsh 2007, pers. comm.).

What is its history in Australia?

According to records at the National Herbarium of Victoria, Orange Hawkweed has been grown as a garden plant in Tasmania since at least 1948, but was first reported as having escaped there in 1963 (CRC 2003). It was recorded as spreading from amenity plantings in the Falls Creek Alpine Village, Victoria, in 1999 (specimen records at the National Herbarium of Victoria), and then reported in intact native vegetation at least 4 km distant from the village by 2003. In New South Wales it was unknown as a weed until 2003 when a large infestation was noted in Snow Gum woodland near Round Mountain, Kosciuszko National Park, remote from any habitation (Walsh 2007, pers.comm.).

How To Manage It?

Best practice management

Because there are relatively few Orange Hawkweed plant infestations, and it can potentially be eradicated before it becomes established, any new outbreaks should be reported immediately to your state or territory weed management agency or local council. Do not try to control Orange Hawkeweed without their expert assistance. Control effort that is poorly performed or not followed up can actually help spread the weed and worsen the problem.

Chemical control: Control has been successfully undertaken with careful application of herbicide. Small plants may be dug out, but the risk of fragmenting the parent plant and either inadvertently spreading it to new sites, or leaving segments of roots in the soil that may then resprout requires that a careful assessment of the infestation is made before control is attempted (Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Fisheries, British Columbia, undated; CRC 2003).

Please see the Australian Pesticides and Veterinary Medicines Authority for chemical information http://www.apvma.gov.au .

Does it have a biological control agent?

NO

When does it grow? (lifecycle/growth calendar)

Plants flower during summer, mainly December and January. Plants pass fairly rapidly into seed and most fruiting is finished during February, some as late as March. Seedling establishment is commonest during autumn (CRC 2003; Stajsic 2007, pers. comm.).

Where Is It Found?

Which states and territories is it found?

NSW, TAS, VIC

What areas within states and territories is it found?

Orange Hawkweed is established in Kosciuszko National Park in New South Wales, near Round Mountain.

In Victoria it has spread from Falls Creek Alpine Village to surrounding alpine and subalpine vegetation, at least as far as Basalt Hill, approximately 4 km southeast from the village, and has also been found at Mt Buller.

In Tasmania, it has established in the Central Highlands and Southern Midlands, and around Hobart where the largest infestation occurs in the vicinity of the suburb of Fern Tree at the foot of Mt Wellington. It has also been noted at Snug, some 20 km south of Fern Tree (Morgan 2000; Walsh 2007, pers. comm.).

Where does it originate?

Orange Hawkweed is common and widespread in North and Central Europe, extending to southern France and Bulgaria (Tutin et al. 1976). It is also established as a weed in the U.S.A., Canada, Britain, New Zealand and some parts of continental Europe outside its natural range (Morgan 2000).

National And State Weed Listings

Is it a Weed of National Significance (WONS)?

NO

Where is it a declared weed?

NSW, TAS, VIC, WA

Government weed strategies and lists – Weeds Australia

Is it on the National Alert List for Environmental Weeds?

YES

Government weed strategies and lists – Weeds Australia

Is it on the Agricultural Sleeper List?

YES

Government weed strategies and lists – Weeds Australia

Names And Taxonomy

Main scientific name

Hieracium aurantiacum

Other scientific names (synonyms)?

Pilosella aurantiaca (L.) F.W.Schultz & Sch.Bip.

Does it have other known common name(s)?

King Devil Hawkweed, Devil's Paintbrush, Fox and Cubs, Grim the Collier

National Weed Management Guide

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