Spermatophytes (seed plants): Angiosperms (flowering plants): Eudicots: Core Eudicots: Asterids: Campanulids: Asterales
WEAKLEY'S FLORA OF THE SOUTHEASTERN US (4/24/22):
Taraxacum officinale
FAMILY
Asteraceae_
Go to FSUS key
Dig deeper at SERNEC, a consortium of southeastern herbaria.
You may find it helpful to read Dandelions, True or False? by Jan Haldeman.
Check out EDDMapS.org to see where this has been reported.
Read more about Taraxacum at Vascular Plants of North Carolina.
INCLUDING
PLANTS NATIONAL DATABASE:
Taraxacum officinale ssp. officinale
FAMILY
Asteraceae_
SYNONYMOUS WITH Floristic Synthesis of North America. BONAP (Kartesz, 2021)
Taraxacum officinale
INCLUDED WITHIN Flora of Florida (Wunderlin & Hansen [& Franck], 2015 et seq.)
Taraxacum officinale
SYNONYMOUS WITH Flora of North America north of Mexico, vol. 19-20-21 (2006)
Taraxacum officinale
SYNONYMOUS WITH VASCULAR FLORA OF THE CAROLINAS (Radford, Ahles, & Bell, 1968) 179-17-002:
Taraxacum officinale FAMILY Asteraceae_
SYNONYMOUS WITH Manual of the Southeastern Flora (Small, 1933, 1938)
Leontodon taraxacum
COMMON NAME:
Common Dandelion
To see larger pictures, click or hover over the thumbnails.
)
USDA-NRCS PLANTS Database / Britton, N.L., and A. Brown. 1913 pnd_leta2_001_lvd
)
USDA / Selected Weeds of the US. 1970 swus_page_439
)
JK Marlow jkm0303x_16
March Greenville County SC
Leaves all at the base and cut into sharp, backward-pointing lobes, per Wildflowers of the Southern Mountains (Smith, 1998).
)
JK Marlow jkm110320_100
March Pickens County SC
Hagood Mill
Disc flowers absent. Ray flowers yellow and bisexual, per Vascular Flora of the Carolinas (Radford, Ahles, & Bell, 1968).
COMPARE
Dandelions and Dandelion-like species
)
JK Marlow jkm110320_106
March Pickens County SC
Hagood Mill
Each scape is hollow and bears a single flower head, per Wildflowers of the Southern Mountains (Smith, 1998).
)
JK Marlow jkm110320_111
March Pickens County SC
Hagood Mill
)
Richard and Teresa Ware rtw_taraxacum_officinale
March
)
JK Marlow jkm0404b_06
April Greenville County SC
Leaves numerous in a basal rosette, deeply pinnatisect to barely lobed, per Vascular Flora of the Carolinas (Radford, Ahles, & Bell, 1968).
)
JK Marlow jkm0404b_06b
April Greenville County SC
Outer involucral bracts are reflexed and about as long as inner bracts, per Wildflowers of Tennessee (Carman, 2005).
COMPARE
involucral bracts of DYCs with ray flowers only (no disc)
)
JK Marlow jkm0404o_36
April Greenville County SC
Single yellow flowers at the ends of long, smooth, hollow stalks, per Weeds of Southern Turfgrasses (Murphy et al., 1992).
)
JK Marlow jkm080410_016
April Lexington County SC
Parking lot
Fruits olive-brown achenes, pappus a tuft of white hairlike bristles, per Wildflowers of Tennessee, the Ohio Valley, and the Southern Appalachians (Horn, Cathcart, Hemmerly, & Duhl, 2005).
)
JK Marlow jkm120403_505
April Greenville County SC
)
Tim Spira tpstaraxacum_frtinghead3
April
Olive-brown achenes are tapered at both ends, per Wildflowers of Tennessee, the Ohio Valley, and the Southern Appalachians (Horn, Cathcart, Hemmerly, & Duhl, 2005).
)
Tim Spira tpstofficinale_lwgarden
April
)
Richard and Teresa Ware rtw_t_officinale_4
December Floyd County GA
)
Richard and Teresa Ware rtw_t_officinale_4b
December Floyd County GA
WEAKLEY'S FLORA OF THE SOUTHEASTERN US (4/24/22):
Taraxacum officinale
FAMILY
Asteraceae_
INCLUDING
PLANTS NATIONAL DATABASE:
Taraxacum officinale ssp. officinale
FAMILY
Asteraceae_
SYNONYMOUS WITH
Floristic Synthesis of North America. BONAP (Kartesz, 2021)
Taraxacum officinale
INCLUDED WITHIN
Flora of Florida (Wunderlin & Hansen [& Franck], 2015 et seq.)
Taraxacum officinale
SYNONYMOUS WITH
Flora of North America north of Mexico, vol. 19-20-21
Taraxacum officinale
SYNONYMOUS WITH
VASCULAR FLORA OF THE CAROLINAS (Radford, Ahles, & Bell, 1968) 179-17-002:
Taraxacum officinale
FAMILY
Asteraceae_
SYNONYMOUS WITH
Manual of the Southeastern Flora (Small, 1933, 1938)
Leontodon taraxacum
1486
Forb
Perennial
Habitat: Lawns, roadsides, urban areas, pastures, disturbed areas, trailsides, less commonly in a variety of less disturbed habitats, per Weakley's Flora
Non-native: Eurasia
Common
CLICK HERE to see a map, notes, and images from Weakley's Flora of the Southeastern US.
Click here to see a map showing all occurrences known to SERNEC, a consortium of southeastern herbaria. (Zoom in to see more detail.)
DOES THE PLANT HAVE "MILKY SAP"?
Has milky sap (latex)
LEAVES:
Simple
Basal rosette
FLOWER:
Winter/Spring/Summer/Fall
Rays: Yellow
Disc: Absent
Inferior ovary
Ray flowers bisexual
FRUIT:
Winter/Spring/Summer/Fall
Olive-brown
Achene
TO LEARN MORE about this plant, look it up in a good book!
- Guide to the Wildflowers of SC, 1st ed. (Porcher & Rayner, 2001) p367
- Guide to the Wildflowers of SC, 2nd ed. (McMillan, Porcher, Rayner, & White; 2022) p526
- Newcomb's Wildflower Guide (Newcomb, 1977) p362
- Wildflowers of the Atlantic Southeast (Cotterman, Waitt, & Weakley, 2019) p311
- Wildflowers of the Carolina Lowcountry (Porcher, 1995) p193
- Wildflowers of the Eastern United States (Duncan & Duncan, 1999) p133
- Wild Flowers of NC, 2nd edition (Justice, Bell, & Lindsey, 2005) p250
- Field Guide to the Wildflowers of Georgia (Chafin, 2016) p109
- Wildflowers of Tennessee (Carman, 2005) p331
- Wildflowers of Tennessee, the Ohio Valley, and the Southern Appalachians (Horn, Cathcart, Hemmerly, & Duhl, 2005) p383
- Wildflowers & Plant Communities of the Southern Appalachian Mountains and Piedmont (Spira, 2011) p448
- Wildflowers of the Southern Mountains (Smith, 1998) p176
- Wildflowers of the Sandhills Region (Sorrie, 2011) p326
- Weeds of Southern Turfgrasses (Murphy et al., 1992) p110
If a search such as "Carex leptalea var. leptalea" doesn't deliver the results you want, try "Carex leptalea".
Or, to minimize chances of a misspelling, try just "Carex le".
Less is more: If "pencil flower" doesn't deliver the results you want, try "pencil".