Hieracium pilosella (Mouse ear)

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Hieracium pilosella L.

Mouse ear, mouse ear hawkweed

Kingdom	Plantae	Plants, but not fungi, lichens, or algae
Subkingdom	Tracheobionta	Vascular plants—plants with a “circulatory system” for delivering water and nutrients
Division	Magnoliophyta	Flowering plants, also known as angiosperms
Class	Magnoliopsida	Dicotyledons—plants with two initial seed leaves
Subclass	Asteridae	A large class that encompasses asters
Order	Asterales	Flowering plants with a central disk flower and surrounding petals, like daisies
Family	Asteraceae	The aster family, which also includes daisies and sunflowers; from the Greek ἀστήρ, “star,” for the star-shaped flowers
Genus	Hieracium	From Greek hierakion, “a hawk,” from Pliny’s belief that hawks strengthened their eyesight by eating these plants
Species	pilosella	“A little hairy”: pilosus, “hairy;” and ella, “diminutive”

About plant names...

Mouse ear hawkweed is a European native, introduced to North America, where it has escaped. In some regions of the Pacific northwest it is considered an invasive species.

Identification: Mouse ear hawkweeds are exceptionally hairy, even for hawkweeds—especially the leaves, whose undersides are soft enough to have earned the name "mouse ears." Upper leaf surfaces are also covered with coarser long white hairs. Plants have a basal rosette of leaves which are unlobed, elliptic, pointed to blunt, and ⅜-4" (1-10 cm) × ⅛-¾" (5-20 mm). Leaves have a prominent white midvein. Solitary yellow flowers appear 1¾-20" (5-50 cm) above the base of leaves, on stems with stiff dark hairs and no leaves, each flower up to 1" (2.5 cm) across. They appear from June to September. Common catsear, Hypochaeris radicata, looks similar, but its leaves are slightly lobed and less hairy.

This hawkweed comparison table is an aid to identifying hawkweeds and similar-appearing species.

Medical: In the Middle Ages, the milky sap secreted by this species, then called Auricula muris, was used as a cough remedy and for lung ailments. All hawkweeds secret this bitter sap, but this sap is somewhat less more palatable. This same astringency led to its use as a clotting agent for wounds.

Online References:

The Bugwood Wiki

The University of Wisconsin's Robert W. Freckmann Herbarium

Discover Life

The Virginia Tech Weed Identification Guide

Www.oregon.gov

Botanical.com

References:

Hains, Arthur; Farnsworth, Elizabeth & Morrison, Gordon (illus.), Flora Novae Angliae: a Manual for the Identification of Native and Naturalizaed Higher Vascular Plants of New England, Yale University Press, 2011, p. 412