Taraxacum contractum

Taraxacum contractum is a European microspecies within the Taraxacum officinale aggregate (section Taraxacum, the common dandelion group). Like other members of the aggregate it is an apomictic perennial herb with a thick, fleshy, branched taproot exuding white latex. The leaves form a basal rosette, are oblanceolate in outline and pinnately lobed with backward-pointing teeth; lobe shape and contraction of the terminal segment distinguish this microspecies from related taxa. Solitary flowering heads are borne on hollow, leafless scapes and bear bright yellow ligulate florets, followed by a globose 'clock' of cypselas tipped with a long beak and a parachute-like pappus of white hairs. It occupies meadows, lawns and disturbed ground in temperate Europe, flowering chiefly in spring.