Largeflower hawksbeard is a North American perennial wildflower in the daisy family, with large deep yellow flower heads on a woolly stem up to about 40 cm tall. It is grown from seed, since its taproot cannot be divided.
Family
Asteraceae (Daisy family)
Grows as
Perennial
Light
Full sun, Part shade
Water
Water sparingly once established; it tolerates dry conditions and grows in many habitats.
Soil
Well-drained soil, tolerates poor or gravelly ground.
Temperature
Hardy in cold winters across western Canada and the western US; protect seedlings from heavy frost.
How easy
Easy
Native range
W. & C. Canada to W. & WC. U.S.A.
Climate
temperate
About
Crepis occidentalis is a North American species of flowering plant in the family Asteraceae known by the common names western hawksbeard, or largeflower hawksbeard. It is native to western Canada (British Columbia, Alberta, Saskatchewan) and the western United States (from the Pacific to the western Great Plains).
Crepis occidentalis grows in many types of habitat. It is a perennial herb growing a grayish woolly branching stem to about 40 centimeters (16 inches) in height from a deep taproot. The woolly, toothed leaves are up to 30 centimeters (12 inches) long at the base of the plant. The inflorescence produces several clusters of flower heads with hairy, often glandular phyllaries and many yellow ray florets but no disc florets. The fruit is a ribbed achene with a frilly pappus at the tip.
How to grow it
Western hawksbeard is occasionally grown by wildflower gardeners for its large deep yellow blooms. The taproot cannot be divided for successful propagation and therefore it is planted from seed when cultivated. The author Claude A. Barr was of the opinion that this species is the most attractive in the genus Crepis and that all the others are, "for the birds."
Text excerpted from the Wikipedia article Crepis occidentalis by its contributors, under CC BY-SA 4.0; the excerpts and the care summary drawn from them are shared under the same licence.
The care summary was written by AI (Claude, Anthropic) from the sources on this page, with general growing knowledge where they are silent. Check before relying on it.
Life form, climate and native range: World Checklist of Vascular Plants, Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew (CC BY 3.0), reformatted; see Plants of the World Online.