King Devil, also known as Yellow Hawkweed, blooms in early summer, and has the look of a miniature dandelion. The small flowers bloom in clusters atop tall, leafless, hairy stems. They grow in open, sunny locations, and prodigiously so. They spread by seeds and runners, which grab the soil and send up new plants. You can mow them down, but the flowers will return with such wanton aggressiveness even dandelions blush.
Devil's Paintbrush, or Orange Hawkweed is considered by some to be one of our most beautiful wildflowers. Those flowers, which bloom in loose clusters throughout the summer, aren't merely orange; they are the color of molten lava, campfire embers, the heart of the sun. The most surprising thing about them is that they don't generate heat. And they are aggressive...
...in 1884 John Burroughs wrote: "They had been cut down with the grass in early July, and the first week in August had shot up and bloomed again. I found the spot aflame with them. Their leaves covered every inch of the surface where they stood and not a spear of grass grew there. They were taking slow but complete possession: they were devouring the meadow by inches... The farmers were thoroughly alive to the danger, and were fighting it like fire."
Yikes!
The "hawkweed" moniker, as well as the generic Hieracium ... hierax means "hawk" ... comes from the old belief that hawks dropped from the sky to sip the juice of the plants to sharpen their eyesight. Devil's Paintbrush specific name, aurantiacum, means "orange-red," while King Devil's pratense means "of the field."
Devil's Paintbrush was once playfully known as Grim the Collier because of its dirty appearance, due to its black hairs, which brought to mind the dirty faces of coalminers as they emerged from the mine. Other folk names included Fairy's Paintbrush, Fireweed, Red Daisy, and Venus's Paintbrush.
Native hawkweed species include Canada Hawkweed (H. canadense), Rough Hawkweed (H. scabrum), Hairy Hawkweed (H. gronovii), Rattlesnake-weed (H. venosum), Shaggy Hawkweed (H. horridum), and Bolander's Hawkweed (H. bolanderi). Two western species, White Hawkweed (H. albiflorum) and Western Hawkweed (H. albertinum), have white flowers. It probably doesn't matter though, the color of the flowers; anything that looks like a dandelion has two strikes against it.
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