Common Dandelion

(Taraxacum officinale)

Characteristics

Seedling	Leaves	Flower	Seedhead

Growing habits: Erect winter annual or perennial herb; entire plants contains milky sap

Root anatomy: Fibrous roots from long, fleshy taproot

Leaf anatomy: Leaves arranged in basal rosette, deeply notched with retroversely pointed lobes, red petiole and midrib

Reproduction: Large puffball inflorescence at end of erect scape from rosette, ray florets orange-yellow by narrow yellow bracts; brown-yellow achene fruit w/pappus parachute

^{References: Weeds of the South by Charles T. Bryson and Michael S. DeFelice}