description
Taraxacum officinale is a flowering herbaceous perennial plant of the
Asteraceae family. It grows from generally unbranched taproots and produces
one to more than ten stems that are typically 5 to 40 cm tall, but sometimes
up to 70 cm tall. The stems can be tinted purplish, and produce flower heads
that are as tall or taller than the foliage. The leaves are 5 to 45 cm long
and 1 to 10 cm wide, and are oblanceolate, oblong, or obovate in shape, with
the bases gradually narrowing to the petiole. The leaf margins are typically
shallowly lobed to deeply lobed and often lacerate or toothed with sharp or
dull teeth. The stems can be glabrous or sparsely covered with short hairs.
Plants have milky latex and the leaves are all basal; each flowering stem
lacks bracts and has one single flower head. The yellow flower heads lack
receptacle bracts and all the flowers, which are called florets, are
ligulate and bisexual. The florets number 40 to over 100 per head, having
corollas that are yellow or orange-yellow in color. The fruits range in
color from olive-green or olive-brown to straw-colored to grayish, they are
oblanceoloid in shape and 2 to 3 mm long with slender beaks. The fruits have
4 to 12 ribs that have sharp edges. The silky pappi, which form the
parachutes, are white to silver-white in color and around 6 mm wide.
common names & nomenclature
The genus name Taraxacum, might be from the Arabic word Tharakhchakon or
from the Greek word Tarraxos. The common name dandelion, comes from the
French phrase dent de lion which means "lion's tooth", in reference to the
jagged shaped foliage.
Also known as:
lion's teeth, blowball, clocks, priest's crown, puffball, cankerwort, dandelion
