Taraxacum cyanolepis

Taraxacum cyanolepis (Asteraceae) is one of the many microspecies recognized within the apomictic Taraxacum officinale aggregate (section Taraxacum, the common dandelions) of Europe. Like its close relatives, it is a perennial herb with a thick fleshy taproot, a basal rosette of oblanceolate, irregularly runcinate-pinnatifid leaves with a milky latex, and solitary heads of bright yellow ligulate florets borne on hollow leafless scapes. The species is distinguished from other Eurasian dandelion microspecies by its dark bluish-green outer phyllaries (whence 'cyanolepis', blue-scaled), the precise pattern of leaf lobing, and pollen characters. It grows in grassland, meadows, lawns, and disturbed ground in northwestern Europe. Achenes are ribbed with a long beak bearing a parachute-like white pappus.