common dandelion
Family
AsteraceaeScientific Name
Taraxacum officinale
Synonyms (former Scientific Names):
Taraxacum vulgare
Habit
Germinates or sprouts year round but mainly in fall and spring. Major flower production starts in spring and may last all summer and into fall.
Leaves
May have several shapes but usually have pointed jagged edges and typically lack hairs. When leaves are cut, milky sap exudes from the cut surface.
Identifying Characteristics
All plant parts have milky sap. Enlarged taproot on mature plants.
Flower Seed Head
Yellow flowers with numerous petals attached to slender stalks. Flowers soon turn to white puffy balls of seed. A bare knobby stalk often remains when seed are blown away.
Seed Fruit
Seed are light brown and have jagged edges. Each seed is attached to a slender stalk that contains a tuft of hairs on the opposite end.
Where Found
Lawns, waste places, pastures, fields, and roadsides. Tolerates mowing.
Growth Habit
prostrate and nonwoody
Thorns or Spines
not present
Approximate Flower Diameter
Varies:
quarter,
half dollar
Dominant Flower Color
Varies:
yellow,
orange
Flower Symmetry
radial symmetery
Leaf Hairs
Varies:
no hairs,
has hairs
Leaf Shape
lance
Leaf Arrangement
rosette
Leaf Margin
Varies:
lobed,
serrated
Leaf Structure
simple
Leaf Stalk
Varies:
none,
shorter than leaf,
longer than leaf
Stem Hairs
no hairs
Stem Cross Section
round or oval
Milky Sap
present
Root Structure
Varies:
fibrous,
taproot
Life Cycle
perennial
Ochrea
not present
Plant Type
Herb