Potato dandelion

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Potato dandelion florets

Potato dandelion inflorescence

Potato dandelion leaves

Potato dandelion pappus

Potato dandelion

Potato dandelion

Potato dandelion leaves

Potato dandelions

Potato dandelion pappus

Morphology

Stem

Flowers borne on unbranched, mostly glabrous flowering stalk arising from small, potato-like tuber.

Leaves

All basal or sometimes with single pair just above base; linear to narrowly-lanceolate, 1.2 to 8 inches long, 1/12 to 1 inch wide, glabrous or sometimes pubescent beneath head; margins entire or toothed to few-lobed.

Inflorescence

Head, solitary, showy, 1.2+ inch broad, terminal on flowering stalk.

Flower

Involucre 1/3 to 3/5 inch tall; bracts 9-18, in single series, turned downward in age; ray florets 25-35; ligules 1/2 to 3/5, yellowish-orange; disk florets absent.

Fruit

Achenes, about 1 inch long, flat, ribbed, hairy, tipped with 20-40 unequal hair-like bristles plus whorl of 10-15 short, inconspicuous scales, enclosing small seed.

Ecology

Habitat

Low, damp, chiefly open sites; prairies, fields, meadows, open woods, and roadsides; light acidic soils; sandstone, chert or granite.

Distribution

Southeast 1/4 of Kansas.

Additional Notes