Dandelion Ragwort

Late summer. Alpine peaks; 3500–4000 m; Colo., N.Mex.

Perennials, 5–10(–14) cm (caudi­-ces branched, fibrous-rooted). Herb­age (sometimes purple-tinged) floccose-tomentose (persistently on abaxial faces of leaves, glabrescent elsewhere). Stems single or loosely clustered. Leaves ± evenly distributed; petiolate; blades oblanceolate to ovate, (1–)2–6 × 1–2.5 cm, bases tapered, margins dentate or incised to subpinnatifid (distal leaves bractlike). Heads 1(–5). Calyculi of 2–5 lance-linear bractlets (lengths ¹ / 3 – ² / 3 phyllaries). Phyllaries ± 13 or ± 21, 7–10 mm, tips green. Ray florets usually ± 13, sometimes fewer or 0; corolla laminae 8–12 mm. Cypselae glabrous. 2n = 40.

Senecio amplectens A. Gray var. taraxacoides A. Gray, Proc. Acad. Nat. Sci. Philadelphia 15: 67. 1864; Ligularia taraxacoides (A. Gray) W. A. Weber