Taraxacum sublongisquameum “Roadside Dandelion”
Section: Ruderalia
Introduced. Scattered through England and Wales north to Teeside. One Scottish record. A
rather scarce casual of waste places, gardens, verges, rarely in quantity and often not
persisting long.
A medium-sized dandelion with ascending lanceolate leaves. Petioles narrowly winged,
white, but mid-ribs above often coloured darker and interlobes blotched blackish. Leaf side-
lobes 3-5, subdeltoid, patent to slightly recurved, often interspersed with a single large
tooth. Leaf end-lobe triangular, more or less homophyllous, but somewhat increasing in size
on inner leaves. Exterior bracts pale greyish above, often becoming suffused purple later,
rather broad, unbordered, slightly recurved. Capitula about 40-45 mm diameter. Easily
confused with Maculata-group species such as T. longisquameum and T. scotiniforme, but
with white petioles.