Pilosella praealta
Common name
king devil
Synonyms
Pilosella piloselloides subsp. praealta (Gochnat) S. Bräut. & Greuter, Hieracium praealtum Gochnat
Family
Asteraceae
Flora category
Vascular – Exotic
Structural class
Herbs - Dicotyledonous composites
NVS code
The National Vegetation Survey (NVS) Databank is a physical archive and electronic databank containing records of over 94,000 vegetation survey plots - including data from over 19,000 permanent plots. NVS maintains a standard set of species code abbreviations that correspond to standard scientific plant names from the Ngä Tipu o Aotearoa - New Zealand Plants database.
HIEPRA
Habitat
Terrestrial. A plant of lowland, montane and subalpine habitats, grows in low fertility sites in shrubland, tussockland and riverbeds.
Features
Perennial herb 15-45 cm tall, with stolons. Leaves 5-12 x 1-1.5 cm, entire, smooth bluish-green to red, leaf underside hairless except on mid-rib and edges. 3-35 yellow flower heads per stem.
Similar taxa
The presence of stolons, multiple yellow flowers and hairs confined to midrib and margins beneath the leaf distinguish this species from all other Hieracium in NZ.
Flowering
November, December, January, February, March
Flower colours
Yellow
Fruiting
(September) - November - March - (April)
Year naturalised
1924
Origin
Europe
Etymology
pilosella: Softly hairy
Reason For Introduction
Accidental
Life Cycle Comments
Perennial. The plant reproduces vegetatively from stolons that give rise to 0-15 new rosettes (Timmins & MacKenzie 1995). Seed is prolifically produced with approximately 1 000/dm squared. Probably no seed bank is formed and seed is dispersed by wind (Timmins & MacKenzie 1995).
Tolerances
Highly tolerant of drought and frost; tolerant of poor drainage and intolerant of shade. Also highly tolerant to physical damage but intolerant to grazing.