Kansas Wildflowers and Grasses

PRAIRIE DANDELION

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Nothocalais cuspidata (Pursh ) Greene

[=Microseris cuspidata (Pursh ) Schultz-Bip.]

Konza Prairie, Konza Prairie, Riley County, Kansas

Perennial

Height: 4-12 inches

Family: Asteraceae - Sunflower Family

Flowering Period: April, May

Also Called:

Wavy-leaf false dandelion.

Stems:

Stemless.

Leaves:

Basal, simple, linear to narrowly lanceolate, 4 to 12 inches long, to 4/5 inch wide, thick; midrib conspicuously whitish; margins entire, fringed with minute hairs, often curling or folded together; tips tapered to sharp points.

Inflorescences:

Heads, solitary, terminal, on leafless flowering stalks that are glabrous or woolly-hairy ; heads 1 to 2 inches wide; bracts linear-lanceolate, to 1 inch long, sometimes speckled; tapering to sharp points.

Flowers:

Florets ray-like, numerous, yellow, tips 5-toothed.

Fruits:

Achenes, cylindric, about 1/4 inch long, prominently grooved, tipped with 40-50 unequal, hair-like bristles, enclosing small seed.

Habitat:

Dry, open prairies and hillsides, most abundant on rocky or gravelly soils.

Distribution:

Throughout Kansas.

Pyrrhopappus grandiflorus (Nutt.) Nutt. a somewhat similar member of the family also is known as "false dandelion".

Prairie dandelion