Carolina desert-chicory

Pyrrhopappus carolinianus, the Carolina desert-chicory or false dandelion, is an erect annual or biennial herb of the Asteraceae native to the southeastern and south-central United States, occurring in open pinelands, fields, prairies, and roadside slopes. Plants form a slender taproot and reach 30–100 cm, with sparingly branched, glabrous to sparsely pilose stems that exude milky latex. Basal leaves are oblanceolate, 5–20 cm long, with shallowly to deeply pinnatifid lobes and a winged petiole; cauline leaves are alternate, reduced upward, often pinnatifid or coarsely toothed and clasping. Heads are solitary or in loose corymbs of 2–5, on long peduncles. Involucres are cylindrical-campanulate, 1.5–2 cm tall, with inner phyllaries in a single series subtended by short outer bractlets, often with small horn-like protuberances near the tip. Florets are all ligulate (no disc), pale to bright sulphur-yellow, opening in the morning. Achenes are columnar, reddish-brown, 4–6 mm long, narrowed into a beak; the pappus consists of tawny capillary bristles with a basal ring of soft hairs. Flowering occurs April–July.