HAWK’S
BEARD
Family COMPOSITAE
Crepis species
Annual
Hardy annuals and perennials native to Greece
and to Italy, which include one annual in particular,
and a few others that are worthy of cultivation.
The best is Crepis rubra, of branching habit, attaining
a foot or less, with smooth leaves, toothed and
lobed. The flowers are similar in form and size
to those of the Dandelion, but red in colour.
There are also forms with soft pink flowers and
one that varies from white to blush.
Crepis virens is a lesser beauty with flowers of yellow-tinged
pink.
Of a branching habit, Crepis dioscoridis has solitary
flowers of yellow.
The red blooms of Crepis rubra will provide a patch
of brilliant colour in the annual border and the
pink form is delightful in contrast with blue
annual Scabious or Anchusa.
The seed should be sown in late March where the
plants are to flower, and the seedlings thinned
to four inches apart.
Propagation is from seed.
The flowering season is from midsummer onwards.
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