Taraxacum amplum

Taraxacum amplum is a perennial herb of the family Asteraceae belonging to the Taraxacum officinale aggregate, the common dandelion complex, an assemblage of numerous largely apomictic microspecies distributed across temperate Eurasia. Like other members of the aggregate it forms a basal rosette of leaves arising directly from a stout, fleshy taproot, with no leafy aerial stem. The leaves are oblong to oblanceolate in outline and variously runcinate-pinnatifid, the lobes typically backward-pointing, and the broad type characteristic of this microspecies. Each flowering head is borne singly atop a hollow, leafless, milky-juiced scape; the head is composed entirely of bright yellow strap-shaped ray florets. After flowering the head develops into the familiar spherical 'clock' of single-seeded fruits, each ribbed achene bearing a slender beak topped by a parachute-like pappus of white hairs that aids wind dispersal. All parts exude a bitter white latex when broken.