Taraxacum balticum

Taraxacum balticum is a perennial herb belonging to the Taraxacum officinale (dandelion) aggregate, a vast complex of largely apomictic microspecies within the daisy family. Like other members of the group, it forms a basal rosette of oblanceolate leaves that are pinnately lobed or runcinate, with backward-pointing teeth, arising from a stout, fleshy taproot. The leafless, hollow flowering scape exudes a milky white latex when broken and bears a single terminal capitulum composed entirely of yellow ligulate florets; the fruiting head forms the familiar spherical "clock" of plumed achenes dispersed by wind. T. balticum is a Baltic and northern European microspecies typically associated with coastal meadows, damp grassland and saline or brackish habitats, where its precise circumscription is recognised mainly by specialist agamospecies taxonomy.