Seashore sowthistle is a yellow-flowered perennial in the daisy family that grows across northern Asia, including Japan, Korea, and China. It is not known to grow wild in the United States, where a plant like this is usually perennial sowthistle, a weed brought from Eurasia.
Appearance
- Appearance
- An upright, hairless plant that reaches up to about 3 ft (1 m).
- Growth form
- Perennial that spreads by long underground stems.
- Flowers
- Clusters of a few bright yellow, dandelion-like heads about 1.2–1.6 in (3–4 cm) across. Each head is made of many strap-shaped and has no central disk.
- Fruit
- Small brown seeds topped with a tuft of white bristles that catch the wind.
Look-alikes
Perennial sowthistleSonchus arvensis
The two look very much alike. Some botanists once treated seashore sowthistle as a subspecies of perennial sowthistle. In the U.S., a plant like this is usually perennial sowthistle, a weed brought from Eurasia.
Why they get mixed upBoth are tall perennials with large yellow heads that spread by underground stems.
Where it lives
- Typical habitats
- coasts
- grassy slopes
- riverbanks
- Range
- Native to much of northern Asia, including Japan, Korea, China, Russia, Mongolia, and Kazakhstan.
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