Taraxacum recurvum

Taraxacum recurvum is a perennial herb belonging to the Taraxacum officinale aggregate, the broad complex of apomictic dandelion microspecies. It develops a fleshy, branching taproot from which arises a ground-hugging rosette of leaves. The leaves are deeply pinnatifid with recurved, often sharply pointed lobes, a feature reflected in the epithet, and contain the bitter milky latex characteristic of the genus. Solitary capitula of golden-yellow ligulate florets are borne on hollow, smooth scapes that elongate above the foliage. Following anthesis the florets give way to ribbed achenes crowned with a fine white pappus, forming the familiar spherical seed-head dispersed on the wind. Like other members of the aggregate it occupies meadows, lawns, roadsides and other open disturbed ground, and propagates predominantly through agamospermy, yielding genetically uniform offspring.