Hawkweeds (Hieracium spp.) are herbaceous flowering plants in the Aster Family (Asteraceae), closely related to Dandelions. There are numerous species in Europe, Africa, Asia, and North and South America, though the precise number of species is open to dispute, as most Hawkweeds are triploid (have three sets of chromosomes, which means that they cannot reproduce sexually (which requires an even number of chromosomes sets, which can then divide and recombine); the plants instead produce seeds asexually that are genetically identical to the parent plant. These triploid species are thought to have arisen by hybridization of diploid species (i.e. species with two sets of chromosomes that can reproduce sexually). This has led to some dispute over the classification of Hawkweeds, with American botanists tending to regard only the diploid, sexual, species as truly valid taxa with other plats regarded as hybrids of these, while in Europe botanists have tended to recognize the triploid, asexual, varieties as species as well, arguing that they may be of hybrid origin, and incapable of reproducing sexually, but are clearly successful organisms capable of sustaining large stable populations and competing against diploid plants.
In June 2022, botanist John Warren was searching on Painswick Beacon, a hill in East Gloucestershire, England for Hieracium subplanifolium, a rare endemic Hawkweed last seen in the area in 1986, when he came across a glossy-leaved Hawkweed, which differed from Hieracium subplanifolium in lacking hairs on the bracts at the base of the flowers. The Plants were subsequently shown to Hawkweed expert Tim Rich, also a botanist, who was unable to identify them, and suggested they might be a new species. They then consulted two further Hawkweed experts, Brian Burrow and David McCosh, neither of whom was able to identify the Plants.
In a paper published in the journal British & Irish Botany on 28 December 2023, John Warren and Tim Rich formally describe the Painswick Hawkweed Plants as a new species, which they name Hieracium elizabethae-reginae, in honour of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II as it was first discovered on her Platinum Jubilee Weekend 2-5 June 2022. Queen Elizabeth II passed away on 8 September 2023.
Hieracium elizabethae-reginae is a flattened perennial herb, with flower stems which reach 45 cm tall. These stems are stout, green or purple, and have a sparce covering of white hairs. The leaves are glossy, up to 9 cm long, and become reddish as they age, the underside is often purple, and has a covering of white hairs. Stems can produce multiple mid-yellow flowers.
The new species has been found at only two sites, both in Gloucestershire. About 400 Plants are present on Painswick Beacon, all growing within an area of about 70 m by 20 m on a steep west-facing calcareous grassland. It was also found at the Barrow Wake nature reserve, about 7 km to the northeast of Painswick Beacon, where about 100 Plants were found within an area of about 100 m by 20 m, on a very steep west-facing grassland with small cliffs and outcrops of a former Oolite limestone quarry. All of the Plants at both sites were growing at altitudes of between about 220 m and 230 m above sealevel.
Based upon the small number of Plants discovered, and the very limited area within which they are found, Hieracium elizabethae-reginae is assessed to be Endangered under the terms of the International Union for the Conservation of Nature's Red List of Threatened Species. Warren and Rich note that both populations lie within designated Sites of Special Scientific Interest, and therefore receive a degree of protection.
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