Vascular Plants of North Carolina
Account for Hairy Cat's-ear - Hypochaeris radicata   L.
Members of Asteraceae:
Members of Hypochaeris with account distribution info or public map:
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Section 6 » Order Asterales » Family Asteraceae
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AuthorL.
DistributionThroughout the state; likely in every county. First collected in 1913 in a lawn by the medical building, UNC-Chapel Hill, Orange County.

Native of Eurasia; in N.A. throughout the eastern states and western states, scarce in the middle states and in Canada.
AbundanceGenerally common in the Coastal Plain, Sandhills, and Piedmont; infrequent to frequent in the Mountains.
HabitatDry to moist roadsides, railroad margins, fields, meadows, campus weed, lawn weed, vacant lots, waste ground, clearings.
PhenologyFlowering and fruiting April-October.
IdentificationHairy Cat's-ear is often common enough that folks mistakenly call it "dandelion". Its leaves -- essentially a basal rosette -- are shallowly lobed and rough-hairy, not deeply lobed and smooth as in Common Dandelion (Taraxacum officinale); it leaves have a rounded tip, vs. an arrowhead or triangular tip of the leaves in that species. The heads of dandelion are much broader and more rounded on top. From Smooth Cat's-ear (H. glabra) it is best told by the rough hairy leaves (vs. smooth leaves in H. glabra).
Taxonomic Comments
Other Common Name(s)
State RankSE
Global RankGNR
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B.A. SorrieSame data. MoorePhoto_non_natural
B.A. SorrieRoadside, Whispering Pines, April 2015. MoorePhoto_non_natural
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