Hawkweed

Description:

Wild Flower of San Fransisco, spotted in the lime ridge open space. The plant's scientific name comes from the Greek for hawk, hierax, as it was believed that hawks ate the plant to help their eyesight. There are about 300 species of Hawkweed in the British Isles and 20,000 world-wide. This is due to the fact that the plant can produce seeds without fertilisation (apomoxis) and so plants in one area are very similar but with distinct (though often subtle) differences from plants further afield