Hieracium pilocella
- noun
- Specialized
:
Hieracium pilocella
- The meadows were dotted with Hieracium pilocella, easily recognized by its soft, hairy leaves.
Examples
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Gardeners often mistake Hieracium pilocella for other common hawkweeds.
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The Hieracium pilocella is often found in meadows.
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Researchers study Hieracium pilocella to understand the spread of non-native plants.
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Is Hieracium pilocella native to Europe?
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The meadows were dotted with Hieracium pilocella, easily recognized by its soft, hairy leaves.
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Gardeners often mistake Hieracium pilocella for other common hawkweeds.
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Researchers study Hieracium pilocella to understand the spread of non-native plants.
Synonyms
A low plant with soft hairy leaves and small yellow flowers like a dandelion
A small European wild plant with soft, hairy leaves and yellow flowers
Surface Forms
Morphology
Hieracium + pilocella
This is a Latin binomial scientific name: the first element names the genus but the second element ('pilocella') is not a recognisable English word and carries no transparent, compositional meaning for a B1 learner. Scientific species epithets function as labels (often arbitrary or Latin-derived) rather than predictable combinations of common English words, so the overall meaning is not derivable from the parts.
Etymology
Hieracium pilocella gets its name from old Greek and Latin words: Hieracium comes from a Greek word for 'hawk' because people once said hawks ate the plant to help their sight, and pilocella comes from Latin for 'small' and 'hairy', describing the plant's soft leaves. So the name points to a 'hawkweed' with small, hairy leaves, which helps you remember this species is a soft, hairy hawkweed.
