Taraxacum

Common dandelion Taraxacum officinale, copyright H. Zell.

Belongs within: Cichorieae.

Taraxacum, the dandelions, is a genus of perennial herbs bearing solitary flower heads, of which the common dandelion T. officinale has been spread widely around the world in association with humans.

Characters (from Hickman 1993): Perennial from taproot; sap milky. Stems naked, hollow. Leaves all basal, toothed or lobed; lobes acute. Inflorescence with heads ligulate, solitary, scapose; phyllaries many, outer ovate to lanceolate, generally reflexed, inner erect, linear; receptacle convex, naked. Florets many; ligules yellow, readily withering. Fruit fusiform; ribs rough; beak slender, >> body; pappus of many, white, slender bristles, not plumose.

<==Taraxacum Wiggers 1780 BR65
    |--T. aleppicum PT98
    |--T. californicum H93
    |--T. eripodum O88
    |--T. hellenicum PT98
    |--T. japonicum MH98
    |--T. magellanicum Comm. ex Sch. Bip. 1855 (see below for synonymy) A61
    |--T. mitalii O88
    |--T. officinale Weber 1787 BR65 [incl. T. dens-leonis Desfontaines 1798 BR65, T. laevigatum H93]
    |--T. palustre C55
    |--T. pseudostenoceras O88
    |--T. sikkimense O88
    |--T. tibetanum O88
    `--T. vulgare LNB03

Taraxacum magellanicum Comm. ex Sch. Bip. 1855 [incl. T. officinale var. glabratus Kirk 1899, Leontodon glabratum, T. officinale var. pygmaea Hooker 1853] A61

*Type species of generic name indicated

REFERENCES

[A61] Allan, H. H. 1961. Flora of New Zealand vol. 1. Indigenous Tracheophyta: Psilopsida, Lycopsida, Filicopsida, Gymnospermae, Dicotyledones. R. E. Owen, Government Printer: Wellington (New Zealand).

[BR65] Black, J. M., & E. L. Robertson. 1965. Flora of South Australia. Part IV. Oleaceae–Compositae. W. L. Hawes, Government Printer: Adelaide.

[C55] Candolle, A. de. 1855. Géographie Botanique Raisonée: Ou exposition des faits principaux et des lois concernant la distribution géographique des plantes de l’époque actuelle vol. 1. Librairie de Victor Masson: Paris.

[H93] Hickman, J. C. (ed.) 1993. The Jepson Manual: Higher Plants of California. University of California Press: Berkeley (California).

[LNB03] Ledeganck, P., I. Nijs & L. Beyens. 2003. Plant functional group diversity promotes soil protist diversity. Protist 154 (2): 239–249.

[MH98] Morikawa, H., A. Higaki, M. Nohno, M. Takahashi, M. Kamada, M. Nakata, G. Toyohara, Y. Okamura, K. Matsui, S. Kitani, K. Fujita, K. Irifune & N. Goshima. 1998. More than a 600-fold variation in nitrogen dioxide assimilation among 217 plant taxa. Plant, Cell and Environment 21: 180–190.

[O88] Ohba, H. 1988. The alpine flora of the Nepal Himalayas: an introductory note. In: Ohba, H., & S. B. Malla (eds) The Himalayan Plants vol. 1. The University Museum, University of Tokyo, Bulletin 31: 19–46.

[PT98] Panitsa, M., & D. Tzanoudakis. 1998. Contribution to the study of the Greek flora: flora and vegetation of the E Aegean islands Agathonisi and Pharmakonisi. Willdenowia 28: 95–116.