Scientific Name: Hypochaeris radicata
Common Name: false dandelion
Family Name: Asteraceae
Origin: Europe
Hardiness Zone: Zone 5: (-29 to -23 °C)
Plant Type: Weed (horticultural)
Mature Size: 0.4 - 0.7m x 0.3 - 0.6m (height x width)
Habit: Arching, Spreading
Form: Creeping / Mat-like
Texture: Medium
Landscape Uses:
Exposure: Full sun
Soil or Media: Rocky or gravelly or dry, Well-drained
Leaves: Simple, Basal, Soft flexible, Prickly, Glandular hairs, Oblanceolate, Oblong, Pinnately lobed
Flowers: Small heads arranged in a cyme, Yellow, Aug-Sep-Oct
Fruit: Cypsela (achene + calyx), Brown, Sep-Oct
Key ID Features:
Perennial weed similar to dandelion but has green penduncles with no latex; leaves are fleshy and less severely lobed than dandelion with rounded tips and short hairs; stems are very narrow, forked; flower heads 5-15mm wide; achene with long white hairs.