Spermatophytes (seed plants): Angiosperms (flowering plants): Eudicots: Core Eudicots: Asterids: Campanulids: Asterales
WEAKLEY'S FLORA (11/30/12):
Taraxacum officinale
FAMILY
Asteraceae_
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
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
)
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.
)
JK Marlow jkm110320_100
March Pickens County SC
Hagood Mill
Disc flowers absent. Ray flowers yellow and bisexual, per Vascular Flora of the Carolinas.
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.
)
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.
)
JK Marlow jkm0404b_06b
April Greenville County SC
Outer involucral bracts are reflexed and about as long as inner bracts, per Wildflowers of Tennessee.
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.
)
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.
)
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.
)
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 (11/30/12):
Taraxacum officinale
FAMILY
Asteraceae_
INCLUDING
PLANTS NATIONAL DATABASE:
Taraxacum officinale ssp. officinale
FAMILY
Asteraceae_
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
Non-native: Eurasia
Documented growing wild in GA NC SC
Common
Look for it in lawns, roadsides, urban areas, pastures, disturbed areas, trailsides, less commonly in a variety of less disturbed habitats, per Weakley's Flora
Click here to see a more detailed map from University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill Herbarium,
or click here to see a map from SERNEC, a consortium of southeastern herbaria.
...Variable
DOES THE PLANT HAVE "MILKY SAP"?
Has milky sap (latex)
LEAVES:
Simple
Basal rosette
FLOWER:
Winter/Spring/Summer/Fall
Rays: Yellow
Disc: Absent
Ray flowers bisexual
Inferior ovary
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 p367
- Newcomb's Wildflower Guide p362
- Wildflowers of the Atlantic Southeast p311
- Wildflowers of the Carolina Lowcountry p193
- Wildflowers of the Eastern United States p133
- Wild Flowers of NC, 2nd edition p250
- Wildflowers of Tennessee p331
- Wildflowers of Tennessee, the Ohio Valley, and the Southern Appalachians p383
- Wildflowers & Plant Communities of the Southern Appalachian Mountains and Piedmont p448
- Wildflowers of the Southern Mountains p176
- Wildflowers of the Sandhills Region p326
- Weeds of Southern Turfgrasses p110