Rattlesnakeweed

Hieracium venosum, the rattlesnake hawkweed or rattlesnake-weed, is a perennial herb in the daisy family (Asteraceae) up to about 45 centimeters tall. Its name refers to the conspicuous purple to maroon veins that boldly mark the upper surface of the basal leaves, contrasting with their otherwise green to pale green blade; most of the leaves are crowded into a basal rosette and are elliptic to oblanceolate, entire to weakly toothed, and softly hairy. The slender flowering stem is nearly leafless, branching above into an open corymbose panicle bearing several to as many as twenty small heads. Each capitulum is composed of 30 to 45 yellow ligulate (ray) florets with no disc florets, opening in succession from May through September. The fruits are slender, ribbed, dark cypselae crowned with a tawny pappus of fine bristles that aids wind dispersal. The species occurs in shady, dry, sandy soils of open woodlands and woodland clearings across south-central Canada (Ontario) and eastern North America, from Michigan east to Maine and south to Florida and Mississippi. The common name alludes to its association with habitats also frequented by rattlesnakes.