Non-Native Hawkweed Species

Hieracium spp.

Family: Asteraceae

Weed class: noClass
Year Listed: 2002
Is this Weed Toxic?:

not known to be

Legal listings:

Non-native hawkweeds and their hybrids are on the Washington State quarantine list. It is prohibited to transport, buy, sell, offer for sale, or distribute plants or plant parts of quarantined species into or within the state of Washington or to sell, offer for sale, or distribute seed packets of seed, flower seed blends, or wildflower mixes of quarantined species into or within the state of Washington. Please see WAC 16-752 for more information on the quarantine list. For questions about the quarantine list, contact the Washington State Department of Agriculture's Plant Services Program at (360) 902-1874 or email PlantServices@agr.wa.gov.

Why Is It a Noxious Weed?

Hawkweeds are prolific seed producers, weedy and capable of hybridizing with many exotic and possibly native species. Hawkweeds are aggressive competitors of pasture, range and native plant species.

How would I identify it?

General Description

Hawkweed species are perennial herbaceous plants that have flowerheads of ray (ligulate) flowers and have a milky latex in their stems. Most non-native hawkweed species have yellow flowers.

May Be Confused With

This listing excludes native hawkweed species: houndstongue hawkweed (Hieracium cynoglossoides), long-beaked hawkweed (Hieracium longiberbe), narrow-leaved hawkweed (Hieracium umbellatum), slender hawkweed (Hieracium gracile), western hawkweed (Hieracium albertinum), white-flowered hawkweed (Hieracium albiflorum) and woollyweed (Hieracium scouleri).

Where does it grow?

Please click here to see a county level distribution map of all other hawkweed species in Washington.

How Does it Reproduce?

Plants can spread by seed as well as by stolons and rhziomes. Modes of spread may differ between species.

For More Information

Pierce County NWCB Fact Sheet on Hawkweed Spp.

Control Options for Hawkweed Spp. from King County NWCB

For more information on non-native hawkweeds listed as noxious weeds, see our page on the meadow subgenus (Pilosella) and the wall subgenus (Hieracium).