Carolina false dandelion is an annual wildflower with sulphur yellow flowers and puffy seedheads. It is one of several native plants called false dandelions.
Carolina false dandelion is a taprooted annual or winter annual (leaves produced one year and flowers the next), with white latex, with stems single or few, finely ridged.
The flowerheads are solitary or rarely paired, terminal, like those of dandelion but bright lemon or sulphur yellow; the inner florets appear dark-flecked from the fused anther bases, which are brownish and surround the style and stigma.
Blooms May–October.
The leaves are both basal and on the stem. The basal leaves are in a whorl, either entire or pinnatifid (like dandelion leaves), and often not present by flowering time. The stem leaves, if present, are few, alternate, growing to 6 inches long, lanceolate, oblong, entire, or pinnatifid; toothed; and partly clasping, sessile.
The fruits are achenes (structurally similar to sunflower or dandelion "seeds"), maturing into a dandelion-like puffball.
Similar species: This is the only Pyrrhopappus species in Missouri.
- Other “false dandelions” in Missouri include 5 species of Krigia (such as two-flowered Cynthia) and prairie dandelion (Nothocalais cuspidata).
- Missouri also has 2 species of “true" dandelions (genus Taraxacum), including the common dandelion familiar to all.
- Other members of the chicory tribe in Missouri, that are rather similar, include sow thistles (Sonchus) and hawkweeds (Hieracium).
Height: 1 to 3 feet (depending on soil and moisture).
Scattered nearly statewide.
Habitat and Conservation
Occurs in dry or wet areas, including upland prairies, glades, swamps, banks of streams and rivers, margins of ponds and lakes, pastures, fields, lawns, ditch banks, railroads, roadsides, and open disturbed places.
This native species can grow in diverse soil and moisture situations, ranging from swamps to dry upland prairies and glades. It has been quite successful in spreading into various disturbed habitats.
Status
Native Missouri wildflower.
Human Connections
Native Americans used the plant medicinally and also ate the roots.
Wild-edibles enthusiasts eat the greens raw or cooked, much as they would “regular” dandelions.
Many consider this a lawn weed to be eradicated, supporting our nation’s multi-billion-dollar lawn-care industry.
Ecosystem Connections
The flowerheads usually open in early morning and close by noon. This matches the foraging behavior of a certain types of bees, particularly certain halictid bees (in the sweat bee family). One halictid bee, Lasioglossum lustrans, is called the Carolina desert chicory sweat bee because it prefers this species of flower and flies in the mornings.
- Thus the wildflower has a pollinator dedicated to it, so pollen is moved only among plants of the same species, and not wasted on unrelated species. This makes for very efficient cross-pollination.
- The bee has a flower species that is open at just the right time for it.
A close relative, tuberous desert-chicory (Pyrrhopappus grandiflorus), may one day be discovered in southwestern Missouri, since it occurs in nearby parts of Oklahoma and Kansas. Unlike Carolina false dandelion, it is a perennial, is shorter (with stems to only 1 foot tall), and has larger flowerheads.
