Taraxacum privum

Taraxacum privum is a perennial herb of the daisy family (Asteraceae) belonging to the great dandelion complex (Taraxacum sect. Ruderalia, part of the T. officinale aggregate). Like other dandelions it forms a basal rosette of leaves arising from a stout taproot, with milky latex throughout. The leaves are pale to mid-green, pinnately lobed with four to five crowded, recurved, broadly triangular lateral lobes. Solitary yellow flower heads composed entirely of strap-shaped (ligulate) ray florets are borne on hollow, leafless scapes; the outer involucral bracts are broad and spreading and the styles bright yellow. The fruit is a straw-coloured achene about 3 to 3.5 mm long bearing a slender beak and a parachute-like white pappus, dispersed by wind. A microspecies native to northern and central Europe, including the Baltic states and the North Sea region, it grows in disturbed grassy places, roadsides, and meadows.