Malacothrix glabrata

Malacothrix glabrata (A.Gray) Eastw. (Asteraceae), the smooth or desert dandelion, is a glabrous, glaucous annual herb of arid sandy and gravelly habitats across the Mojave, Sonoran, and Great Basin Deserts of the southwestern United States and adjacent Mexico, growing 15–45 cm tall and exuding a milky latex when broken. Basal leaves form a loose rosette and are 5–15 cm long, deeply pinnately divided into narrow, linear, almost thread-like lobes; cauline leaves are similar but smaller and progressively reduced upward. The slender, often branched stems bear solitary or few showy heads on naked peduncles; each capitulum is 2.5–4 cm across, with 25–50 lemon-yellow to nearly white ligulate ray florets, often with a darker central spot, and no disc florets. Achenes are cylindric, 3–4 mm long, with about 15 ribs and a deciduous outer pappus of bristles surrounding 1–2 persistent inner bristles.