Yellow or Orange Flowers
(
Dandelion-like Flowers )
Composite Family (Compositae)
Dandelion
Taraxacum officinale
Season: Spring/Summer/Early Fall
Habitat: Disturbed Ground
Height: Up to 40 cm
Description: This almost universal flower is known to all. However, it has numerous imitators in the Rockies, so it is important to be able to identify it definitively. The leaves occur in a basal rosette. They lie low to the ground, are linear in nature, with a deeply incised margin that terminates in a point. The hairy stem, with milky sap, ends with a single yellow flower-head. The flower may be 5 cm in diametre. Beneath the flower, the bracts are recurved, and point towards the base of the stem. No imitator does this. Also, the dandelion is the only similar flower with incised leaves. The flower later gives way to a ball of fluffy seeds. Carried on a fluffy parachute, the leaves can travel immense distances.