dandelions (Taraxacum) — identification, habitat & look-alikes

Dandelions are a group of flowering plants found in lawns, along roadsides, and in mountain meadows. Their leaves spread close to the ground, and each hollow, leafless stalk carries one cluster of small flowers that looks like a single bloom. North America has native species, but the widespread common dandelion and red-seeded dandelion in U.S. lawns are introduced.

In this group

common dandelionTaraxacum officinale

This widespread lawn and roadside perennial has tan to brown mature fruits and deeply toothed leaves.

red-seeded dandelionTaraxacum erythrospermum

Common in parts of the United States, it has red to purplish mature fruits and usually narrower, more deeply cut leaf lobes.

California dandelionTaraxacum californicum

This federally endangered native grows in southern California mountain meadows, far from the usual lawn-weed setting.

Appearance

Growth form: Most familiar species are perennial herbs with a deep . Broken leaves and stalks often release white sap.
Flowers: What looks like one flower is a head packed with many small . Most familiar species have yellow heads, while some species have white flowers.
Flowering time: In Minnesota, common and red-seeded dandelions can bloom from early spring through fall. Timing varies with region and species.
Fruit: Each dry fruit carries a beak topped by a tuft of fine hairs.
How to recognize it: Look for toothed leaves in a , an unbranched hollow stalk with one yellow flower head, and a round puffball of seeds. A leafy or branched flower stem points to another group.

Look-alikes

cat's-earsHypochaeris

A dandelion has one head on an unbranched, leafless hollow stalk. Common catsear often has hairy basal leaves and branching stalks with several flower heads.

Why they get mixed upBoth can have low leaf rosettes, yellow flower heads, and fluffy fruits.

Where it lives

Typical habitats: lawns
roadsides
disturbed ground
mountain meadows
Range: Common dandelion and red-seeded dandelion are widespread introduced plants in the United States. California dandelion has a very small native range in moist mountain meadows of southern California.
Preferred conditions: Many familiar dandelions handle sunny, disturbed soil and established plants can survive dry periods. Species with narrow native ranges may need very different habitat.

Life cycle

Reproduction: Common dandelion can make seeds without ordinary fertilization, but reproduction is not identical across every Taraxacum species.
Seed dispersal: The tuft acts like a parachute and carries the fruit on the wind.

Name and classification

About the name: Red-seeded dandelion (Taraxacum erythrospermum) was also called Taraxacum laevigatum.
Group name: The name dandelion can refer to the whole Taraxacum group, while common dandelion (Taraxacum officinale) is one species within it.

Conservation

Conservation: California dandelion is federally listed as endangered in the United States.

Culture and stories

Culture and stories: European settlers brought familiar dandelions to what is now the United States by the 1600s, and they have long been used as food and medicine.

23 sources