The plants around us. Volum III The plant around us. Volume III. Etwining project | Page 46
Taraxacum officinale , the common dandelion [4] (often simply Binomial name
called "dandelion"), is a flowering herbaceous perennial
plant of the family Asteraceae (Compositae). Taraxacum officinale
(L.) Weber ex F.H. Wigg
Taraxacum officinale grows from generally unbranched taproots and
produces one to more than ten stems that are typically 5–40 cm (2.0–
15.7 in) tall, but sometimes up to 70 cm (28 in) tall. The stems can be
tinted purplish, they are upright or lax, and produce flower heads that
are held as tall or taller than the foliage. The foliage may be upright-
growing or horizontally spreading; the leaves have petioles that are
either unwinged or narrowly winged. The stems can be glabrous or
sparsely covered with short hairs.
Plants have milky latex and the leaves are all basal; each flowering stem lacks bracts and has one single flower
head. The yellow flower heads lack receptacle bracts and all the flowers, which are called florets, are ligulate
and bisexual. In many lineages, fruits are mostly produced by apomixis, [10] notwithstanding the flowers are visited
by many types of insects. [11]
Scientific classification
Kingdom Plantae
Clade Angiosperms
Clade Eudicots
Clade Asterids
Order Asterales
Family Asteraceae
Genus Taraxacum
Species T. Officinale