Tussock Hawkweed (H. lepidulum)
Tussock hawkweed (Hieracium lepidulum) is a multiple- stemmed, non-stoloniferous species common in Otago, Canterbury, Nelson and Marlborough, and is particularly abundant in the wetter Otago run country. It is a long-lived perennial with the main distinguishing feature of having jagged toothed leaves that are dark to dull olive-green above but purplish green to purple on the underside. It is also characterised through its occurrence as single rosettes of upright growing plants, rather than in mats or patches and through having small leaves up the flowering stem. Like H. praealtum it has a clustered multi-flowered head, though more open, with a deeper yellow colour compared with H. pilosella.
In grassland it is present on a wide range of habits from dense grasslands to rubble slopes and shaded banks, and is locally more abundant in some shrublands and beneath open beech forests. It is more shade tolerant than the other hawkweeds. H. lepidulum is more abundant in wetter climatic zones (ca 1000-3000 mm annual rainfall), though it successfully grows in the 500 mm zone once established.
Unlike the other species of hawkweed, it only spreads by seed and both this can be significantly reduced through grazing (Espie 1994).
