Easily confused with : other section alpine Hawkweeds.
Peter Andrews says:
"
There are just 34 species of Hieracium section Alpina. My most treasured find was of the unusual Hieracium einichense in 2001 high up on the cliffs of Glen Einich. I remember it was blowing a gale with rain. This species has lovely round & oval reddish violet leaves. There are only a handful of plants in two sites in the glen, one of which has not been seen since 1966! The paucity of rosette leaves in my image, is probably due to grazing by red deer, which can reach the colony. On two further visits there were no flowering plants only a few small basal leaves and deer droppings all over the site. The conservation answer is simple for H. einichense: to erect a deer fence around the rock outcrop on which they occur.
Hieracium einichense is very special hawkweed. And is very hard to find, even David Tennant could not provide any precise details. It took a high camp and two days searching to locate it. Even now it is hard to find the place.
Only the Hieracium insigne is rarer - and that is if that taxon is still extant. Hieracium insigne needs to be urgently relocated, I could not find it on my last two visits to Glen Callater. It would seem that the deer which roam the hills eat it.
"
[Edited slightly by your Author.]
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