Taraxacum nordstedtii

Taraxacum nordstedtii, Nordstedt's dandelion, is a perennial herb of the daisy family (Asteraceae) belonging to the large and taxonomically complex Taraxacum officinale aggregate. Like other dandelions it forms a basal rosette of leaves arising from a stout, fleshy taproot, and all parts exude a milky white latex when broken. The leaves are oblanceolate and pinnately lobed, with the lobes typically less deeply cut and the leaf often broader and less toothed than in many segregates of the group. Each leafless, hollow flowering stem (scape) bears a single bright yellow flower head composed entirely of strap-shaped ray florets. The head matures into a spherical seed clock of plumed achenes dispersed by the wind. A microspecies of damp grassland, marshes, flushes and stream-sides, it occurs across northern and western Europe, and is distinguished from related dandelions chiefly by subtle characters of the leaf shape, involucral bracts and pollen.