On my walk ... the autumn hawkbit

 

As I stride the streets of Sidmouth getting my daily (well, almost  daily) exercise I pass lawns and other grassy places that are kept short and often, at this time of year, they are covered in dandelions. Well I say 'dandelions' as that is what we tend to call all of this king of yellow flower that we see.

Whilst you can see 'real' dandelions at any time of year they are most common in spring and early summer, but by October they are less so obvious so that begs the question, what are these 'dandelions' that can be seen commonly in October?

Look in any wild flower book and you will see several pages of 'dandelions', my favourite book has illustrations of 36 species that all look the same! However, when you look more closely you start to see differences which, if you feel you want to name them, give you clues.

So why is this photograph not of a dandelion? Firstly, the flower head is smaller than a dandelion; it has a shorter diameter and less densely packed 'petals'. Secondly, if you look on the underside of the flower the 'sepals' are greyish. Thirdly, look at the leaves and you will see they are smaller and more deeply lobed than then indents on a dandelion leaf. Next, the plant is smaller over all and usually has multiple stems coming from a central leaf rosette each with a flower on top; in dandelions they often only produce one stem and flower at a time. Finally from July through to October the autumn hawkbit [Scorzoneroides autumnalis] is more common than the dandelion.

So there you have it. Next time you see a lawn covered in dandelions you will know they might not actually  be dandelions after all. You may not be totally sure what they are but at least you will have made a start!