Marsh dandelion

Taraxacum palustre, the marsh dandelion, is a perennial herb of the family Asteraceae belonging to the Taraxacum officinale aggregate, distinguished from common dandelions by its preference for damp, marshy and fen habitats across Europe and temperate Asia. Like other members of the genus it produces a stout taproot and a basal rosette of leaves that, in this microspecies, are comparatively narrow and only weakly toothed or nearly entire, less deeply lobed than in roadside dandelions. Solitary bright-yellow ligulate flower heads are borne on hollow, leafless scapes; a defining feature is that the outer involucral bracts are appressed (not strongly reflexed) and broadly margined. After flowering the head matures into a spherical "clock" of plumed achenes dispersed by wind. The whole plant exudes a bitter white latex when broken. As one of many apomictic microspecies within the dandelion complex, it reproduces largely asexually.