Hieracium , known by the common name hawkweed and classically as hierakion (from ancient Greek ιεράξ, hierax ‘hawk’), is a genus of the sunflower (Helianthus) family Asteraceae), and closely related to dandelion (Taraxacum), chicory (Cichorium), prickly lettuce (Lactuca) and sow thistle (Sonchus), which are part of the tribe Cichorieae. Hawkweeds, with their 10,000+ recorded species and subspecies, do their part to make Asteraceae the second largest family of flowers. Some botanists group all these species or subspecies into approximately 800 accepted species, while others prefer to accept several thousand species. Hieracium species are native to Africa, Asia, Europe, North America, Central America and South America.