Orange Hawkweed (Hieracium aurantiacum)

Also known as: devil’s paintbrush, flameweed, fox-and-cubs, orange red king devil

Orange hawkweed is a fast spreading perennial that has attractive, showy orange flowers. The bright orange flowers attract gardeners who are unaware of how quickly it can spread. Once outside of garden beds, it spreads rapidly and can overtake lawns, gardens, pastures, and meadows.

Description:

Habitat:

• Orange hawkweed is commonly found in lawns, meadows, pastures, and forest openings
• It thrives in a variety of soils, and while it prefers sunny locations, it is somewhat shade tolerant.

Impact:

• Orange hawkweed spreads quickly by seeds, rhizomes, and above-ground stolonsStolons A horizontal stem that runs along the ground and takes root at certain points to form new plants.. It can develop into a monocultureMonoculture A single crop or plant species in an area. that continues to expand until it covers an area.
• It is an unpalatable competitor of pasture and range plant species, crowding out more desirable livestock forage.

What you can do about it:

• If you think you’ve found orange hawkweed anywhere in Oregon, please report it to the Oregon Invasive Species Hotline.
• Small infestations can be removed by hand, being careful to remove the entire root system and disposing of the plant in a plastic bag in the trash—not your yard waste bin or home compost.
• Mowing is not recommended to large or dense infestations.
• Employing a routine grazing rotation is essential for controlling it in pastures. Allowing forage to recover and regrow helps reduces the spread of orange hawkweed.

Look-alikes:

Before flowering, orange hawkweed is difficult to distinguish from other hawkweeds, like mouse-ear hawkweed. However, once it flowers, the bright orange-red flowers are a distinguishing feature. 

Noxious Weed Listing:

More Resources:

• Pacific Northwest Weed Management Handbook: Orange hawkweed
• University of California, Weed Research & Information Center: Hawkweeds