Species
+

Pilosella aurantiaca (L.) F.W.Schultz & Sch.Bip.

Devil's Paint-brush, Fox and Cubs, Fox-And-Cubs, Grim-the-collier

Climate known 52 photographs
Add one to my plants Sow seed

Every figure on this page is derived from public data by a stated rule and says its source; nothing here is written by a person or a model, except the Wikipedia passage, which is quoted and marked as such. How it is made.

Summary

Pilosella aurantiaca is a perennial flowering plant in the family Asteraceae. It is native to mountainous regions of Europe and has been widely introduced elsewhere, where it is invasive in parts of North America, New Zealand, and Australia.

Text from Wikipedia, “Pilosella aurantiaca”, CC BY-SA 4.0, quoted as written. Kept separate from everything derived here.

About the genus · Pilosella

Pilosella is a genus of flowering plants in the family Asteraceae. It includes approximately 250 species native to temperate Eurasia and northwestern Africa. Some sources include it within the genus Hieracium.

Text from Wikipedia, “Pilosella”, CC BY-SA 4.0, quoted as written.

Family
Asteraceae
Described by
(L.) F.W.Schultz & Sch.Bip.
Native to
Finland, Norway, Sweden +13
Wild records
400 in range· 26 open

At a glance

Warmest month
22°C
Jul, mean day; nights 14 °C (CHELSA)
Rain
860mm/yr
12 wet months · peak Dec 80 mm (CHELSA)
Light
4–33DLI
mol/m²/day, winter to summer, open sky (CHELSA shortwave)
In short condensed by rule from the cultivation cards · not written by a person
Rain rule: no season, 70% of the rain takes 8 months (June to January in the northern hemisphere). Habitat rain 860 mm a year, wettest December at 80 mm, driest April at 49 mm (habitat calendar, northern hemisphere). Open sky over the habitat: 4 to 33 mol/m²/day. Cold floor -9.0 °C (1st-percentile habitat night, NASA POWER).
Each sentence is one card's own one-line form, written by the same rule as the card (Its year, Rain, Light, Temperature); the note cannot say what a card does not. Months are given for the northern hemisphere (set your site in Settings to change this), and the habitat's own alongside. The cards · the figures.

Also known as Hieracium aurantiacum f. aurantiacum; Hieracium aurantiacum subsp. aurantiacum; Hieracium aurantiacum subsp. aureopurpureum Nägeli & Peter, 1885; Hieracium aurantiacum subsp. valdersianum Nägeli & Peter; Hieracium aurantiacum var. aurantiacum and 3 more.

Cultivation

Its year Rain rule: no season, 70% of the rain takes 8 months (June to January in the northern hemisphere).

This species’ habitat figures, and what two fixed rules read from them.

The rain rule reads no season: 70% of the year's rain (615 mm of 860 mm) takes 8 months, June to January. Mean temperature moves 15.4 °C between the warmest and coldest month. Months are the habitat's, northern hemisphere; shifted six months for a southern-hemisphere collection: December to July.

Read from the median year of CHELSA monthly rainfall and mean temperature across the envelope cells: the rain rule takes the smallest set of months carrying 70% of the rain and calls it winter when its mean is more than half a degree below the year's, summer when more than that above, and neither in between; the temperature rule, used only under 120 mm, names the cooler six months when they are at least a degree cooler than the other six. Months are shifted for the other hemisphere only where the temperature curve gives a season to reverse. A reading of the curves, not an observation of the plant.

Rain Habitat rain 860 mm a year, wettest December at 80 mm, driest April at 49 mm (habitat calendar, northern hemisphere).

This species’ habitat figures, with their source.

860 mm a year at the habitat, 615 mm of it June to January. Wettest month December at 80 mm, driest April at 49 mm. Across the envelope cells the year's total runs 813 mm to 983 mm (10th to 90th percentile of each cell's own year) (median year across the envelope cells, CHELSA; habitat calendar, northern hemisphere).

CHELSA monthly precipitation, median year across the envelope cells. The rain that falls where the species is recorded; nothing about how the plant takes water.

Light Open sky over the habitat: 4 to 33 mol/m²/day.

This species’ habitat figures, with their source.

Open sky over the habitat: 4 to 33 mol/m²/day across the year (daily light integral, median year across the envelope cells, CHELSA; the lowest 10th-percentile month across the cells is 3, the highest 90th-percentile month 35).

CHELSA shortwave radiation at each envelope cell, a daily-mean flux taken to a daily total and converted at 2.07 mol of PAR per MJ. The sky over the habitat, measured; what reaches a plant under a rock, a shrub or a shade cloth is not.

Warmth and air Cold floor -9.0 °C (1st-percentile habitat night, NASA POWER).

This species’ habitat figures, with their source.

Temperature

Coldest: the 1st-percentile night over 44 years at the typical cell is -9.0 °C, the absolute minimum -18.1 °C, about 59 frost nights a year (NASA POWER daily minima). Warmest: the 99th-percentile day is 28.2 °C. Monthly means: coldest night 0.2 °C in January (across the envelope cells -2.8 °C to 1.0 °C), warmest day 22.1 °C in July (median year across the envelope cells, CHELSA). Cold floor: -9.0 °C, which is the 1st-percentile night over 44 years at the typical cell (NASA POWER).

NASA POWER daily minima and maxima 1981–2024 at the typical cell, lapse-corrected to its elevation; CHELSA monthly means, median year across the envelope cells, CHELSA. The cold floor is the figure named in its sentence. Not a measured survival limit for any plant in a pot.

Humidity

Relative humidity at the habitat: 60 to 69% across the year (monthly means, median year across the envelope cells, CHELSA). A figure about the air, saying nothing about how the plant takes water.

CHELSA relative humidity, median year across the envelope cells.

The figures the cards read from are in Climate below, and where they came from in Natural habitat.

Climate across the habitat

Habitat climate through the yearMean day from 5 °C in Jan to 22 °C in Jul; mean night from 0 °C in Jan to 14 °C in Jul. The cold quarter, Dec to Feb, is the three months around the coldest night. 860 mm of rain a year, most in Dec. The bands show the 10th to 90th percentile across 319 habitat cells. Over 44 years at the typical cell the absolute minimum was -18.1 °C and the 99th-percentile day 28.2 °C; neither is dated to a month. Beneath: daily light integral and relative humidity through the year, each on its own scale.-20°-10°10°20°30°frost28.2° 99th-percentile day (undated)-18.1° lowest night in 44 yrs (undated)°C · day and nightcold quarter0255075100mm rainDLI 4–33RH 60–69 %JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
day night rain 10th–90th percentile across 319 habitat cells cold quarter: the three months around the coldest night extremes over 44 years at the typical cell, marked at the edge: undated DLI, mol/m²/dayRH %each on its own scale
Figures by month
JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
Day °C5 / 3–66 / 4–710 / 8–1013 / 12–1417 / 16–1820 / 19–2022 / 21–2322 / 21–2218 / 17–1914 / 13–159 / 7–105 / 3–6
Night °C0 / -3–10 / -3–12 / 0–35 / 3–59 / 8–911 / 11–1214 / 13–1414 / 13–1411 / 10–128 / 6–84 / 2–51 / -2–2
Rain mm76 / 69–8659 / 53–6970 / 63–7949 / 44–6167 / 62–7777 / 72–8779 / 72–9278 / 72–8771 / 64–8677 / 71–8877 / 68–8580 / 74–93
DLI5 / 4–610 / 9–1117 / 16–1827 / 26–2832 / 32–3433 / 33–3533 / 32–3428 / 27–2919 / 18–2012 / 11–126 / 5–74 / 3–4
RH %68 / 67–6965 / 64–6663 / 62–6460 / 59–6160 / 59–6161 / 59–6261 / 60–6261 / 60–6263 / 62–6465 / 64–6668 / 67–6969 / 68–70

Each figure is the median across the 319 grid cells holding the 399 in-range records, with the 10th–90th percentile span across those cells after the slash where it differs. Extremes and elevation were read at the typical cell 753:3720 (52.325, 6.025). Over 44 years there: absolute minimum -18.1 °C, 1st-percentile night -9.0 °C, 99th-percentile day 28.2 °C. Normals: CHELSA V2.1 1981–2010 climatology, 0.05° cells (each the mean of ~36 1 km pixels). Envelope: median and 10th–90th percentile of each month across the 319 distinct grid cells holding the 399 in-range records; extremes and elevation at the typical cell 753:3720 (its coldest month's mean night nearest the median across cells); its position is the cell centre. Extremes: NASA POWER (MERRA-2) daily 1981–2024, cell 52.50_6.250, lapse-corrected -5 m at 6.5 °C/km. Elevation: ETOPO 2022, 5 m (cell mean).

Natural habitat

Native range as published by WCVP; the marker is where the records are densest and decides nothing: the climate was read across every in-range record's cell, not at the marker.
Openly licensed records inside the range, framed on where they fall.
NativeFinland, Norway, Sweden, Austria, Czechoslovakia, Germany, Poland, Switzerland, France, Bulgaria, Italy, Romania, Yugoslavia, East European Russia, North European Russia, Ukraine· introduced: Denmark, Føroyar, Great Britain, Ireland, Belgium, Belarus, Baltic States, Altay, West Siberia, Kamchatka, Khabarovsk, Kuril Is., Sakhalin, Kazakhstan, Kirgizistan, Japan, New South Wales, Tasmania, Victoria, Alaska, Alberta, British Columbia, Manitoba, Saskatchewan, Labrador, New Brunswick, Newfoundland, Nova Scotia, Ontario, Prince Edward I., Québec, Colorado, Idaho, Montana, Oregon, Washington, Wyoming, Illinois, Iowa, Minnesota, Missouri, South Dakota, Wisconsin, Connecticut, Indiana, Maine, Massachusetts, Michigan, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Rhode I., Vermont, West Virginia, California, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Maryland, North Carolina, Tennessee, Virginia, Falkland Is.
Kew's description“perennial” · “temperate”· quoted from WCVP, RBG Kew (CC BY 4.0); not derived here
Map marker50.887, 5.328 · in the densest population, 247 records (62% of those in range)
Evidence usedThe map marker and the climate envelope rest on all 400 georeferenced records inside the native range; the map shows only the 26 openly licensed ones, which alone would put the marker 439 km away. 347 records outside the range (gardens, roadsides, misidentifications) ignored. 1 in-range record is placed to worse than 10 km and stays on the map but off the climate.
The map markerthe map marker: the openly licensed record nearest the middle of the densest 1° population of the 400 in-range records; it decides nothing.

Photographs

Pilosella aurantiacaPilosella aurantiacaPilosella aurantiacaPilosella aurantiacaPilosella aurantiacaPilosella aurantiacaPilosella aurantiacaPilosella aurantiaca

Photographs: (c) Tom Norton, some rights reserved (CC BY) (4); (c) wild_wind, some rights reserved (CC BY); no rights reserved · CC0 (3).

Photographs: iNaturalist and GBIF media did not answer when this page was built; what is shown came from the sources that did.

Papers naming this species

Works whose title or abstract names Pilosella aurantiaca, most cited first, from OpenAlex (CC0). A mention, not a cultivation source: nothing on this page is drawn from them.

Wild plant species growing closely connected in a subalpine meadow host distinct root-associated bacterial communities
Kristin Aleklett, Jonathan W. Leff, Noah Fierer, Miranda M. Hart (2015) · PeerJ
New and additional information on the flora of the Middle Dnieper
Оleksandr Shynder, Tetiana Kostruba, Г.А. Чорна, Vitaliy Коlomiychuk (2022) · NaUKMA Research Papers Biology and Ecology
Beiträge zur Nomenklatur und Taxonomie der Schweizer Flora
Hans Peter Fuchs‐Eckert (1980) · Feddes Repertorium
IAPT chromosome data 29
Karol Marhold, Jaromír Kučera, А. В. Агафонов, T.V. Alexeeva (2019) · Taxon
Occurrence Download
GBIF.Org User (2021) · Global Biodiversity Information Facility
New Localities of Vascular Plants Occurring in Poland, 6
Tomasz Wójcik, Wacław Bartoszek, Sofia Celewicz, Lena Cierniak (2025) · Wiadomości Botaniczne
Weed invasion increases after large-scale wildfires in remote alpine areas in Eastern Australia
Kris French, David Hathenbruck, Shae Jones, Hillary Cherry (2025) · Biological Invasions
Populations of Pilosella species in ruderal habitats in the city of Prague
František Krahulec, Anna Krahulcová, Tomáš Urfus, Jan Doležal (2020) · Preslia
Occurrence Download
GBIF.org User (2026) · Global Biodiversity Information Facility
Occurrence Download
GBIF.org User (2026) · Global Biodiversity Information Facility

Similar habitat climate the 6 species whose habitat climate is nearest this one's: mean day and night, month by month, and rain on a log scale, in calendar order, so a habitat with the same seasons six months out is far, not near. Nothing else counts: not range, not family.

History & registers

Where this page came from built 2026-09-20 · dossier v2 · node
gbif.species answeredcarried from build of 2026-09-20 (offline re-derivation; the backbone was not asked)
gbif.synonyms answeredcarried from build of 2026-09-20 (offline re-derivation; the backbone was not asked)
gbif.vernacular answeredcarried from build of 2026-09-20 (offline re-derivation; the backbone was not asked)
wcvp.distribution answered
gbif.occurrences answeredGBIF occurrence search API
climate answered
wikidata answeredcarried from build of 2026-09-20 (rederive); that build: carried from build of 2026-09-19 (rederive); that build: carried from build of 2026-09-19 (rederive)
wikipedia answeredcarried from build of 2026-09-20; this build: skipped
inat.taxon not askedcarried from build of 2026-09-20 (rederive)
inat.photos.wild answeredcarried from build of 2026-09-20; this build: skipped
inat.photos.cultivated nothing to reportcarried from build of 2026-09-20 (rederive); that build: carried from build of 2026-09-19 (rederive); that build: carried from build of 2026-09-19 (rederive)
commons nothing to reportcarried from build of 2026-09-20 (rederive); that build: carried from build of 2026-09-19 (rederive); that build: carried from build of 2026-09-19 (rederive)
gbif.media did not answercarried from build of 2026-09-20 (rederive); that build: api.gbif.org not asked: offline re-derivation
openalex answeredcarried from build of 2026-09-20; this build: skipped

Every upstream is recorded as having answered, reported nothing, or refused. Only “nothing to report” is ever shown as an absence. Records came from 10 datasets via GBIF.org; each carries its own licence.