Smooth cat's ear
Hypochaeris glabra
Family · Asteraceae · Harmless
The yellow daisy of sandy poor soils, with a nearly hairless rosette and small heads that only open properly in the morning and close early.
Fields and pasture · Dunes and sand · Pine woods · Roadsides and waste ground
Also known assmooth cat's-ear
How to tell it
A rosette of cut leaves, smooth or nearly so, unlike common cat's ear, which is rough and very hairy. Slender branched leafless stems. Small heads, a centimetre across, the yellow rays barely clearing the bracts when closed. White latex when cut.
What it is confused with
Cat's ear
Hypochaeris radicata
Run a finger over the rosette: the common one is rough and covered in stiff hairs, this is smooth. And the common one has far larger heads, open all day. Neither is dangerous.
What it is for
No relevant use
It indicates sandy, acid, poor soil, and often grows beside hare's-foot clover and spotted rock rose, which say the same thing.
Where it occurs
Each square is an area with recorded observations of this plant. The lighter background is the set of areas where any of the entries has been observed, and serves as a reference. Note what this is not: it is not where the plant lives, it is where people record it, so trails and towns always look fuller than the mountains. Data from GBIF.
Sources
Community
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