Taraxacum sublaeticolor

Taraxacum sublaeticolor is a perennial herb of the family Asteraceae belonging to the large dandelion aggregate (Taraxacum officinale agg.), one of numerous apomictic microspecies that reproduce by setting seed without fertilisation and so breed true. Like other dandelions it forms a basal rosette of oblong leaves that are deeply and irregularly toothed or runcinate-pinnatifid, arising from a stout, milky-juiced taproot. Each leafless, hollow flowering scape bears a single head composed entirely of bright yellow strap-shaped (ligulate) ray florets, subtended by an involucre whose outer bracts are reflexed or spreading. After flowering the head matures into the familiar spherical clock of single-seeded achenes, each crowned by a slender beak and a parachute of white pappus hairs that carry it on the wind. The microspecies is distinguished from its relatives by subtle differences in leaf cut, bract form and achene colour, and occupies grassland, lawns and disturbed ground.