Snake-headed Hawkweed (Hieracium anguinum)
Key Details
| Taxonomic Groups: | Vascular plant > flowering plant > Herbaceous plant |
| Red List Status: | Vulnerable (Not Relevant) [VU(nr)] |
| D5 Status: | Included in the baseline Red List Index for England (Wilkins, Wilson & Brown, 2022) |
| Section 41 Status: | (not listed) |
| Taxa Included Synonym: | (none) |
| UKSI Recommended Name: | Hieracium anguinum |
| UKSI Recommended Authority: | (W.R.Linton) Roffey |
| UKSI Recommended Qualifier: | (none specified) |
| Red List Citation: | in Stroh et al., 2014 |
| Notes on taxonomy/listing: | (none) |
Criteria
| Question 1: | Does species need conservation or recovery in England? |
| Response: | No |
| Justification: | A predominantly upland British endemic in one ravine site Bizzle Corrie in Cheviots (last seen 2005) and 8 or 9 sites in Southern Uplands, Scotland (still in 3/3 searched in 2016; Rich et al. 2018). Like many Southern Upland hawkweeds, restricted to very small sites and some have gone due to overgrazing but nature of cliff sites means little practical can be done, and they will benefit more from overall reduction in upland grazing. |
| Question 2: | Does recovery/ conservation depend on species-specific actions? |
| Response: | No |
| Justification: | Upland sites tend to be on cliffs where threats are minimal and little conservation action is practical - main requirement is reduction in grazing at landscape scale. Most of the population is in Scotland. Seed held in Millennium Seed Bank. |
| Question 3: | At a landscape scale, would the species benefit from untargeted habitat management to increase habitat mosaics, structural diversity, or particular successional stages? |
| Response: | Yes |
| Justification: | main requirement is reduction in grazing at landscape scale |
Species Assessment
Not relevant as no Key Actions defined.
Key Actions
No Key Actions Defined
Acknowledgment:
Data used on this website are adapted from Threatened species recovery actions 2025 baseline (JP065): Technical report and spreadsheet user guide (Natural England, 2025). Available here.