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Species Image Gallery (opens in a new window) |
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| THE SUNFLOWER FAMILY | |||||||||
| The sunflowers are found around the
globe in many different places, from temperate climates, like in Saskatchewan,
to mountains or in dry regions. The sunflower family is very large and contains
about 19,000 species! As you can imagine, the plants in this family can
look very different from one another. The sunflowers can be shrubs or herbs,
with many different leaf shapes and flower colours. One thing that is common
to all sunflowers is the type of flower arrangement. In this family, there
are many flowers grouped together into a head, like the one you see on a
daisy. It looks like one flower from a distance, but when you get close
you will see that it is actually made up of many, small flowers. The head
may have ray flowers on the outside and disc flowers on the inside, or only
one of the two kinds. Many of the seeds, like the dandelion, have a fluffy
structure attached to the seed. This is called the pappus and helps the
seeds to spread in the wind. You probably know a lot of plants in the sunflower family. Sunflowers can be plants you eat or plants that you may grow in the yard. For example, did you know that lettuce is from the sunflower family? So are the marigolds in the garden! Maybe you have heard of Echinacea? It is a plant in the sunflower family that is used to make medicine. Some of the sunflowers are also weeds, like the dandelion. |
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| WESTERN HAWKSBEARD | |||||||||
| LATIN NAME: Crepis occidentalis ssp. costata | |||||||||
| WHAT DOES IT LOOK LIKE? | |||||||||
| Western hawksbeard is 20 to 40 cm tall. The stem is branched and woody with overlapping leaf bases. If you break the stem, you will notice a milky juice, like in the dandelion. The leaves are mostly basal, and the leaves on the stem are very small. The basal leaves are usually gray-woolly and have downward pointing lobes on the edges. The bracts are straw-coloured with a dark brown midvein and are gland-tipped. The ray flowers are yellow. The fruit is brownish and spindle-shaped and has a white pappus. | |||||||||
| WHERE DOES IT GROW? | |||||||||
| Western hawksbeard is found on gravelly soils on slopes. | |||||||||
| WHERE IS IT FOUND IN SASKATCHEWAN? | |||||||||
| This plant is only found in the Cypress Hills and surrounding area in the Cypress Upland and Mixed Grassland ecoregions. | |||||||||
| WHY IS IT RARE? | |||||||||
| Western hawksbeard is threatened in Saskatchewan because it is somewhat limited to one region of the province and is almost always locally sparse. Habitat loss is one of the most important threats to this species. | |||||||||
| HOW TO IDENTIFY WESTERN HAWKSBEARD | |||||||||
| * Are the ray flowers yellow? * Are the bracts straw-coloured with a brown midvein? * Are the fruits brownish and spindle-shaped? * Did you find it in the Cypress Hills? | |||||||||
| If you answered yes to all of these questions, you may have found western hawksbeard! | |||||||||
