Taraxacum xanthostigma

Taraxacum xanthostigma is a perennial herb in the family Asteraceae belonging to the Taraxacum officinale aggregate, the great complex of apomictic microspecies collectively known as the common dandelion. Like other members of the group it forms a basal rosette of oblanceolate leaves that are deeply and irregularly lobed or toothed, the lobes often backward-pointing, arising directly from a stout, fleshy taproot that exudes a bitter milky latex when cut. Each flowering scape is hollow, leafless and erect, bearing a single composite head of numerous bright yellow ligulate (ray) florets; the microspecies of the aggregate are distinguished by subtle features of the involucral bracts, pollen, achene colour and the colour of the stigmas, the epithet referring to yellow stigmas. After flowering the head matures into the familiar spherical clock of plumed achenes dispersed by wind. The plant reproduces largely by seed produced asexually through apomixis, a feature underlying the proliferation of stable microspecies within the dandelion complex.