Rural Roots Special Edition - Weeds of Distinction | Page 3

WHITE COCKLE ORANGE HAWKWEED
Noxious Noxious
Lychnis Alba Syn., Silene Alba S. Latifolia
White Cockle is an annual, biennial and short-
lived perennial. It habitats full-sun, well-drained
soils and has male and female flowers on different
plants. This plant emerges from an initially formed
taproot, and then grows spreading lateral roots.
White Cockle produces white flowers that have 5
notched petals with a tubular calyx at the flower
base. The male flower has 10 veins on the calyx
while the female flower has 20. The stems are
hairy and swollen at the nodes, the leaves are
opposite on the stem, hairy and slightly oval-
shaped with pointed tips.
Look alike: Night- flowering catchfly (upper stems
are hairy and sticky vs White Cockle is not sticky).
Mechanical: Cultivation will spread an infestation.
Frequent mowing will reduce seed production.
Handpicking will work for individual plants and
smaller infestations, provided the roots are fully
removed from the soil.
Herbicides such as Mecoprop or in a product
mix, Tribenuron-methyl alone or in a product mix,
are registered for use.
Hieracium Aurantiacum
Orange Hawkweed is a fibrous rooted, perennial
herb with a milky latex in the stems. It prefers
well-drained soil types. This plant develops a
basal rosette before producing a flowering stem.
The basal leaves are oblong/lance-shaped to
oval with a short or no point, and narrow to a
petiole. Both sides of the leaf surface are hairy.
Leaf margins can be entire or toothed. Orange
Hawkweed produces a dandelion-like red-orange
flower, which grows in a cluster at the end of a
long stem. The stem and the stolon are also hairy.
Hawkweeds reproduce by seed, and vegatively
by horizontal aboveground stolon and
underground rhizomes.
Mechanical: Mowing before flowering will prevent
seed production of taller plants but remains
ineffective for vegetative growth due to stolon
and rhizomes plant spread. Handpicking may
be effective provided all the stolon and rhizome
root structures have been removed from the soil.
Cultivation will result in spreading the infestation.
Herbicides such as Hexazinone, 2, 4-D and
glyphosate are registered for use on Hawkweeds.