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Comments are encouraged and appreciated. We are amateur botanist, and we do make mistakes sometimes with our identifications. We strive to make this a good identifying resource. All comments are moderated by me and may take several days to appear. This is due to the high number of inappropriate comments that have nothing to do with this subject.

Sunday, June 3, 2012

Carolina Desert-Chicory, False Dandelion (Pyrrhopappus carolinianus (Walt.) DC.)


Asteraceae (Aster Family)

 
General: Annual or biennial, 8-36 in. tall, from a large taproot; stems and branches smooth or minutely hairy, with milky sap. 

 
Leaves: Alternate, simple, oblanceolate to narrowly elliptic 3-10 in. long .04-2.5 in. wide, pinnately veined, smooth or minutely hairy; tips acute to acuminate; margins toothed to pinnatifid; bases wedge-shaped.

 
Flowers: Ray flowers pale yellow, numerous, 0.8-1,0 in. long; disk flowers absent; involucres about l in. high, 1 inner series of bracts and several outer series, inner bracts with distinctive 2-lobed thickenings at the tip; heads 1 to several on slender stalks.

 
June-September.

 
Fruits: Round, ribbed achenes, tapered toward each end, with a long beak tipped with short reflexed white hairs pappus a tuft of tan hair like bristles.


Photographic Location: Sycamore Ridge Ranch
 
Where Found: Roadsides, fields, and waste places throughout the southeastern U S north to MD, IN, and NE. Throughout TN. Common

 
NOTES: This plant, also called Leafy False Dandelion is similar to Common Dandelion but has stem leaves in addition to basal leaves. Often visited by short-tongued bees.

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