Michael Peverett: The common Cat's-ear

Wednesday, June 30, 2021

The common Cat's-ear

Hypochaeris radicata (Common Cat's-ear). Frome, 22 June 2021.

Some quite unsatisfactory shots of that common but lovely midsummer sight, a group of Common Cat's-ear (Hypochaeris radicata). (My copy of Stace gives the English name as simply "Cat's-ear", but that means the species has exactly the same vernacular name as its genus, which doesn't seem too clever.)

An easy plant to appreciate but not an easy subject to photograph. All the leaves are at ground-level, but the flowers are hovering high above them on elevated leafless stems. You can never photograph the leaves and flowers at the same time, except from a great distance with the kind of camera I don't have.

Hypochaeris radicata (Common Cat's-ear). Frome, 22 June 2021.

In Sweden, where Hypochaeris radicata is called "Rotfibbla", it's reasonably common in the far south but it is certainly not the "common" Cat's-ear over there. That would be Hypochaeris maculata (Spotted Cat's-ear, Sw: Slåtterfibbla), which -- contrariwise -- is very rare in the British Isles.

Maybe that's one reason Stace sidestepped the word "Common" in the name of Hypochaeris radicata. In the British Isles it's amply justified, the species growing pretty well everywhere (markedly unlike the two other Cat's-ear species). But now that English is a world language, it might not be very sensible for botanists across the world to be saddled with a name that alludes only to distribution in this local corner of it.

Hypochaeris radicata (Common Cat's-ear). Frome, 22 June 2021.

There are lots of other dandelion-like Asteraceae around at this time of year, and the golden-yellow flowers of Common Cat's-ear can make lovely combinations with them: for instance the introduced Orange Hawkweed (Fox-and-cubs) in towns, or the lemon-coloured Mouse-ear Hawkweed on limestone slopes. But Common Cat's-ear can also light up a sweep of grassland by itself.

I've never quite got my head round when the various Asteraceae species close up their flowerheads. Anyway, these photos were taken at 16:00, so Hypochaeris radicata is certainly not an early closer.