View source for Taraxacum officinale

{{Treatment/ID
|accepted_name=Taraxacum officinale
|accepted_authority=F. H. Wiggers
|publications={{Treatment/Publication
|title=Prim. Fl. Holsat.,
|place=56. 1780
|year=1780
}}
|common_names=Common dandelion;pissenlit officinal
|special_status={{Treatment/ID/Special_status
|code=I
|label=Introduced
}}
|basionyms={{Treatment/ID/Basionym
|name=Leontodon taraxacum
|authority=Linnaeus
|rank=species
|publication_title=Sp. Pl.
|publication_place=2: 798. 1753
}}
|synonyms={{Treatment/ID/Synonym
|name=Taraxacum officinale var. palustre
|authority=Blytt
|rank=variety
}} {{Treatment/ID/Synonym
|name=Taraxacum sylvanicum
|authority=
|rank=species
}}
|hierarchy=Asteraceae;Asteraceae tribe Cichorieae;Taraxacum;Taraxacum officinale
|hierarchy_nav=<div class="higher-taxa"><div class="higher-taxon"><small>family</small>[[Asteraceae]]</div><div class="higher-taxon"><small>tribe</small>[[Asteraceae tribe Cichorieae]]</div><div class="higher-taxon"><small>genus</small>[[Taraxacum]]</div><div class="higher-taxon"><small>species</small>[[Taraxacum officinale]]</div></div>
|volume=Volume 19
|mention_page=page 7, 239, 240, 241, 242, 243, 245, 246
|treatment_page=page 244
}}<!--

--><span class="statement" id="st-undefined" data-properties=""><b>Plants </b>(1–)5–40(–60) cm; taproots seldom branched. <b>Stems</b> 1–10+, erect or ascending, sometimes ± purplish (usually equaling or surpassing leaves), glabrous or sparsely villous, slightly more so distally. <b>Leaves</b> 20+, horizontal to erect; petioles ± narrowly winged; blades oblanceolate, oblong, or obovate (often runcinate), (4–)5–45 × (0.7–)1–10 cm, bases attenuate to narrowly cuneate, margins usually shallowly to deeply lobed to lacerate or toothed, lobes retrorse, broadly to narrowly triangular to nearly lanceolate, acute to long-acuminate, terminals ± as large as distal laterals, ultimate margins toothed or entire (secondary lobules irregular, perpendicular to retrorse), teeth minute to pronounced apices acute to acuminate or obtuse, faces glabrous or sparsely villous (commonly on midveins). <b>Calyculi</b> of 12–18, reflexed, sometimes ± glaucous, lanceolate bractlets in 2 series, 6–12 × 2.8–3.5 mm, margins very narrowly white-scarious, sometimes villous-ciliate distally, apices acuminate, hornless. <b>Involucres</b> green to dark green or brownish green, tips dark gray or purplish, campanulate, 14–25 mm. <b>Phyllaries</b> 13–18 in 2 series, lanceolate, 2–2.8 mm wide, margins scarious (proximal 2/3) to narrowly scarious, apices acuminate, erose-scarious, usually hornless (seldom appendaged), callous. <b>Florets</b> 40–100+; corollas yellow (orange-yellow), 15–22 × 1.7–2 mm (outer). <b>Cypselae</b> olivaceous or olive-brown, or straw-colored to grayish, bodies oblanceoloid, (2–)2.5–2.8(–4) mm, cones shortly terete, 0.5–0.9 mm, beaks slender, 7–9 mm, ribs 4–12, sharp, faces proximally smooth to ± tuberculate, muricate in distal 1/3; pappi white to sordid, 5–6(–8) mm. <b>2n</b> = 24, 40, [16, 32].</span><!--

-->{{Treatment/Body
|phenology=Flowering nearly year-round (fall–spring, south; spring or summer, north).
|habitat=Often damp low places, lawns, roadsides, waste grounds, disturbed banks and shores
|elevation=0–2000+ m
|distribution=Greenland;St. Pierre and Miquelon;Alta.;B.C.;Man.;N.B.;Nfld. and Labr.;N.W.T.;N.S.;Nunavut;Ont.;P.E.I.;Que.;Sask.;Yukon;Ala.;Alaska;Ariz.;Ark.;Calif.;Colo.;Conn.;Del.;D.C.;Fla.;Ga.;Idaho;Ill.;Ind.;Iowa;Kans.;Ky.;La.;Maine;Md.;Mass.;Mich.;Minn.;Miss.;Mo.;Mont.;Nebr.;Nev.;N.H.;N.J.;N.Mex.;N.Y.;N.C.;N.Dak.;Ohio;Okla.;Oreg.;Pa.;R.I.;S.C.;S.Dak.;Tenn.;Tex.;Utah;Vt.;Va.;Wash.;W.Va.;Wis.;Wyo.;Europe;also introduced in Mexico;introduced nearly worldwide.
|introduced=true
|discussion=<p><i>Taraxacum officinale</i> is the most widespread dandelion in temperate North America, though its abundance decreases in the arid south. It is a familiar weed of lawns and roadsides. It is also the species most commonly used for medicinal and culinary purposes (e.g., E. Small and P. M. Catling 1999).</p><!--
--><p>Phenotypic and genotypic variation of this species have been studied in North America (L. M. King 1993; King and B. A. Schaal 1990; J. C. Lyman and N. C. Ellstrand 1998; O. T. Solbrig 1971; R. J. Taylor 1987), but results of those studies did not lead to the recognition of microspecies.</p><!--
--><p>Specimens of <i>Taraxacum officinale</i> with deeply lobed leaves are sometimes difficult to distinguish from those of <i>T. erythrospermum</i> when fruits are missing (see also R. J. Taylor 1987). Usually, however, early leaves of the former are much less deeply lobed than those of the latter, which are more consistently lacerate throughout development, though broadly winged initially. The two taxa are easily distinguished in fruit, the red cypselae of <i>T. erythrospermum</i> standing out from the dull olive ones of <i>T. officinale</i>.</p><!--
--><p>In northeastern North America, <i>Taraxacum officinale</i> and <i>T. lapponicum</i> often are confused, which has led to reports of the common dandelion farther north than I have been able to verify (it has yet to be collected from the Nunavik region of Quebec, for instance). The characters in the key above help separate the two taxa.</p><!--
--><p>The typification by A. J. Richards (1985) would leave the common dandelion of both Europe and North America without a valid name (J. Kirschner and J. Štepánek 1987). For the time being, with the nomenclatural situation still not resolved, I am following traditional usage of the name <i>Taraxacum officinale</i>.</p>
|tables=
|references=
}}<!--

--><!--

-->{{#Taxon:
name=Taraxacum officinale
|authority=F. H. Wiggers
|rank=species
|parent rank=genus
|synonyms=Taraxacum officinale var. palustre;Taraxacum sylvanicum
|basionyms=Leontodon taraxacum
|family=Asteraceae
|phenology=Flowering nearly year-round (fall–spring, south; spring or summer, north).
|habitat=Often damp low places, lawns, roadsides, waste grounds, disturbed banks and shores
|elevation=0–2000+ m
|distribution=Greenland;St. Pierre and Miquelon;Alta.;B.C.;Man.;N.B.;Nfld. and Labr.;N.W.T.;N.S.;Nunavut;Ont.;P.E.I.;Que.;Sask.;Yukon;Ala.;Alaska;Ariz.;Ark.;Calif.;Colo.;Conn.;Del.;D.C.;Fla.;Ga.;Idaho;Ill.;Ind.;Iowa;Kans.;Ky.;La.;Maine;Md.;Mass.;Mich.;Minn.;Miss.;Mo.;Mont.;Nebr.;Nev.;N.H.;N.J.;N.Mex.;N.Y.;N.C.;N.Dak.;Ohio;Okla.;Oreg.;Pa.;R.I.;S.C.;S.Dak.;Tenn.;Tex.;Utah;Vt.;Va.;Wash.;W.Va.;Wis.;Wyo.;Europe;also introduced in Mexico;introduced nearly worldwide.
|introduced=true
|reference=None
|publication title=Prim. Fl. Holsat.,
|publication year=1780
|special status=Introduced
|source xml=https://bitbucket.org/aafc-mbb/fna-data-curation/src/2e0870ddd59836b60bcf96646a41e87ea5a5943a/coarse_grained_fna_xml/V19-20-21/V19_318.xml
|tribe=Asteraceae tribe Cichorieae
|genus=Taraxacum
|species=Taraxacum officinale
}}<!--

-->[[Category:Treatment]][[Category:Taraxacum]]