Taraxacum officinale ssp. officinale

Native to Eurasia. Introduced and naturalized.

Widespread

Forest openings, stream banks, fields, pastures, roadsides, railroads, lawns, disturbed sites.

April to November

Bright yellow

2″ to 12″

This is a widely recognized, 2″ to 12″ tall, erect, perennial forb. It rises on up to 20 or more basal leaves and 1 to 10 or more flowering stems (scapes) from a deep, somewhat fleshy, seldom branched taproot. When broken the scapes and leaves exude a milky latex.

The leaves are all basal, 2″ to 18″ long, and ¾″ to 4″ wide. They are erect to horizontal. They may be shallowly lobed or deeply lobed, sometimes nearly pinnately compound. They are often deeply pinnately lobed with the lobe ends pointing downwards. The terminal lobe is usually larger than the lateral lobes. Smaller leaves may be unlobed. The upper surface is hairless. The underside has woolly hairs along the midveins and sparse woolly hairs on the surface. The margins may be toothed or untoothed.

The flowering stems are erect or ascending, hollow, leafless, and hairless or with sparse, woolly hairs. They are ¾″ to 16″ long, usually as long or longer than the leaves.

The inflorescence is a solitary flower head at the end of each scape.

The involucre is composed of an inner series of usually 13 to 20 bracts and an outer series of 11 to 17 bracts. The bracts are often purple tinged toward the tip. The inner bracts are fused at the base with the tips erect at first, later bent backward. They form an urn-shaped or cup-shaped structure that does not have small, horn-like protuberances. The outer bracts are similar in shape but about half as long or less than the inner series. They bend back sharply as the head first develops.

The flower heads are 1″ to 2″ wide. They are composed of 40 to 120 or more bright yellow, strap-shaped ray florets and no disk florets.

The fruiting head is a whitish, spherical mass with a feathery appearance. The fruit is an olive-colored to greenish-brown achene with a tuft of white hairs attached at the tip. They are dispersed by wind.

Red-seeded dandelion (Taraxacum erythrospermum) leaves have terminal lobes that are smaller or at least no wider than the 2 adjacent lateral lobes. The flower heads are no more than 1″ across. The achene is reddish-brown.