prairie false dandelion

Prairie false dandelion is a showy, easily identified, prairie wildflower. It occurs in the United States from Wisconsin to Illinois, west to Idaho and New Mexico, and in southern Saskatchewan and Alberta Canada. It is found in upland prairies, hill prairies, pastures, and rocky slopes. It grows under full sun, in dry conditions, in well drained, rocky, sandy, or otherwise gritty soil. It is not tolerant of disturbance.

Prairie false dandelion is a 2¾″ to 13¾″ (7 to 35 cm) tall, perennial forb that rises on a rosette of basal leaves and usually a single flowering stem from a taproot and clusters of lateral rootlets. The taproot is large, thick, fleshy, and somewhat woody and hardened. It has a blackish, tough, bark-like, outer protective layer (periderm). The stems and leaves emit a milky latex when cut or torn.

The rosette of basal leaves is up to 10″ (25 cm) in diameter. The leaves are 2¾″ to 11¾″ (7 to 30 cm) long, and ⅛″ to ¾″ (3 to 20 mm) wide. They are usually stalkless and somewhat sheathing at the base, but sometimes they are attached by an indistinct, short, winged stalk. There are usually 2 or 3 short, ⅜″ to 19⁄16″ (1 to 4 cm) long, brown, scale-like leaves at the outside of the rosette.

Each leaf blade is grass-like (linear) or linear lance-shaped. The leaf tip is tapered with concave sides (acuminate). There is a prominent, single, pale, broad midrib, and a faint network of secondary veins. The secondary veins are long, and they join together before reaching the margin (anastomosing). The margins are unlobed. They may be flat or wavy, and they are densely covered with short, curled hairs (ciliate). On the upper side, there are often long curled hairs along the midrib. The upper and lower surfaces may be otherwise hairless, or they may have a sparse covering of long curled hairs, becoming denser near the tip.

There is usually just a single flowering stem. The stem is erect, unbranched, 2¾″ to 13¾″ (7 to 35 cm) tall, and finely lined or ridged. It is leafless, and it is moderately to densely covered with white, curled to woolly hairs, especially on the upper two-thirds.

The inflorescence is a single, 1″ to 2″ (25 to 51 mm) wide flower head at the end of each stem. The whorl of modified leaves (bracts) at the base of the flower head (involucre) is bell shaped, ½″ to 11⁄16″ (13 to 27 mm) long, and 3 ⁄16″ to ¾″ (5 to 20 mm) wide at flowering time. It is composed of 13 to 34 lance-shaped to narrowly lance-shaped bracts (phyllaries) arranged usually in 2 overlapping series. The phyllary margins are thin and pale, and there is sometimes a faint purple midvein or purplish spots.

The flower head has 35 to 80 bright yellow florets. Each floret is tube-like at the base and strap-shaped from the tube to the end. The strap-shaped portion (ligule) is ⅝″ to 11⁄16″ (15 to 27 mm) long, and the tip is fringed.

The fruit is a dry, one-seeded seed capsule (cypsela). The cypsela is yellowish brown to brown, ¼″ to ⅜″ (7 to 10 mm) long, narrowly cylinder-shaped, and slightly tapered at the base. It is not flattened, it is not expanded at the tip, and it does not have a narrow extension (beak) at the tip. The surface has usually 10 ribs, and there is a tuft (pappus) of 40 to 80 bristles (pappi) at the tip. The pappi are white, 5⁄16″ to 7⁄16″ (8 to 11 mm) long, and minutely barbed.

2¾″ to 13¾″ (7 to 35 cm)

Yellow

Pale agoseris (Agoseris glauca var. glauca) is a taller plant, up to 18″ (46 cm) in height. The flowering season is May to September. It is found in wet or moist areas.

Dry. Full sun. Well drained, rocky, sandy, or otherwise gritty soil.

April and May

Sources

2, 3, 4, 5, 7, 24, 28, 29, 30.

Native

This species was formerly classified as Microseris cuspidata. A morphological analysis (Chambers, 1957) argued for separating four Microseris species into a new genus Nothocalais based on a unique combination of character states. Later molecular studies (Jansen et al., 1991 and Whitton et al, 1995) supported the separation.

Plants of the World Online continues to classify this species as Microseris cuspidata. They appear to be unique in that respect.

Nothocalais - false dandelion
Matt Lavin

Nothocalais cuspidata
Corey Raimond

Agoseris-cuspidata-Prairie-Dandelion
PrairieMoonNursery

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