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Characteristics for this group:
- Flowerheads have ray florets only
- Tips of rays are usually square and finely toothed
- Plants contain milky sap
- Fruits have white, hair-like bristles, often forming round heads
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Guide to Identify Presented Species of the Dandelion group
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BLUE
OR PURPLE RAYS
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Cichorium -
Chicory are blue (rarely
white) with spreading branches.
Flowerheads are about 3-4 cm wide, with about 10 rays, stalkless,
growing in clusters of 1-3 on branches.
Leaves are mainly basal, lance-shaped, deeply tooted or lobed. |
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Lactuca biennis - Tall Blue Lettuce
Robust, hairless plant with milky sap, 60-200 cm tall. Moist, disturbed sites.
Flowerheads blue-whitish,
c. 1 cm wide, with 13-35 rays, in elongate cluster.
Leaves alternate, lance-shaped, toothed to pinnately lobed. |
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Lactuca tatarica - Blue
Lettuce
Hairless plant, 20-100 cm tall. Meadows, thickets,
plains to foothills.
Flowerheads blue, about 2 cm wide, with 18-50 rays,
in open clusters.
Leaves alternate, narrowly lance-shaped, entire, the lower leaves with
lobes. |
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Tragopogon
- Common Salsify are
hairless, thickened below flowerhead.
Flowerheads are about 5-6 cm wide, with about 13 purple rays.
Bracts are very long, narrow and extending out past the rays.
Leaves are alternate, grass-like, linear, clasping stem. |
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PINK RAYS
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Lygodesmia
- Milkpink are smaller
plants, with pink rays, branching.
Flowerheads are about 5-20 mm wide, with about 6-10 rays, stalkless,
growing in clusters of 1-3 on branches.
Leaves are mainly basal, lance-shaped, deeply tooted or lobed. |
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WHITE RAYS
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Hieracium albiflorum -
White Hawkweed
Slender plant, loosely hairy, 30-120 cm tall. Open woods, slopes, montane.
Flowerheads white, c. 1 cm wide, with 13-34 rays, in open, branching
cluster.
Leaves mainly basal, elliptic, toothless or
wavy-toothed. Stem leaves smaller. |
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ORANGE RAYS
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Agoseris
aurantiaca - Orange Agoseris
Stems single, leafless, 10-60 cm tall. Meadows, woodlands in the mountains.
Flowerheads solitary, orange or purple, 2-3 cm wide. Rays toothed at tips.
Leaves basal, lance-shaped, smooth-edged or few-toothed, long-stalked. |
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YELLOW RAYS, FLOWERHEADS
SOLITARY
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Agoseris glauca - False Dandelion
Stems single, leafless, 10-40 cm tall. Meadows and other open places.
Flowerheads solitary, yellow, 3-5 cm wide. Tips of rays have 5 small teeth.
Leaves basal, lance-shaped, smooth-edged, or with
few teeth or lobes. |
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Taraxacum -
Dandelion have
solitary, leafless, hairless stems.
Flowerheads are bright yellow, about 3-4 cm wide.
Leaves are basal, lance- to spoon-shaped, cut into triangular,
backward-pointing lobes. |
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Tragopogon
dubius - Yellow Salsify
Stems 30-100 cm tall, hairless, thickened below the flowerhead. Open areas.
Flowerheads yellow, 5-6 cm wide. Bracts narrow, extending out past the rays.
Leaves alternate, grass-like, linear, clasping stem, not curved back at tips. |
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Tragopogon
pratensis - Meadow
Salsify
Stems 15-80 cm tall, hairless, not thick below the flowerhead. Open places.
Flowerheads yellow, 2-3 cm wide. Bracts narrow, not extending past the rays.
Leaves alternate, grass-like, linear, clasping stem, curved back at tips. |
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YELLOW RAYS, FLOWERHEADS
2 OR MORE ON EACH STEM
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Crepis - Hawksbeard
are slender plants, long-hairy.
Flowerheads are about 2-3 cm wide, growing in open, branching
clusters.
Leaves are alternate, linear, stalkless, with lobes at base
clasping stem,
basal leaves soon withering. |
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Hieracium cynoglossiodes -
Houndstongue Hawkweed
Stems spreading stiff-hairy, 30-100 cm tall. Open sites, foothills-montane.
Flowerheads about 2 cm wide, the involucre with black, gland-tipped bristles.
Leaves basal and alternate, oblong to lance-shaped, entire, long-bristly hairy. |
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Lactuca serriola - Prickly
Lettuce
30-150 cm tall, hairless, branching at sharp angles. Weed, disturbed areas.
Flowerheads 10-15 mm wide, with 13 to 27 ray
florets, in open clusters.
Leaves alternate, pinnately lobed, prickly on the midrib beneath and on edges. |
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Sonchus - Sow
Thistle are tall plants,
with coarse, stalked glands near top.
Flowerheads are about 3-5 cm wide, growing in open, branching
clusters.
Leaves are alternate, lance-shaped, cut into backward-pointing
lobes,
at base clasping stem, prickly on edges. |
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