Taraxacum edmondsonianum “Edmondson's Dandelion”
Section: Ruderalia
Native, and near endemic. Scattered through western Britain from Somerset north to north Lancashire. Very rare and probably casual east of the Pennines and in Ireland; two records in central Scotland. Hedge-banks, rough grassland, wood margins, gardens etc. There are a few records from southern Scandinavia where it may be introduced as most reports are from Britain.
A tall, rather imposing dandelion with erect, lanceolate, mid-green leaves. Petioles rather long, bright pink throughout with clearly marked green wings. Leaf side-lobes 5-7, rather short, strongly sigmoid on distal margin, often forming a hump, scarcely dentate. Leaves homophyllous; leaf end-lobes rather short, triangular-acute, characteristically forming a rounded lobule unilaterally. Exterior bracts recurved, often reflexed in bud, oblong, green, sometimes becoming pink at the apex. Capitula large, flat when expanded, to 55 mm diameter. The combination of bright pink petioles with green wings and the rounded lobules of the leaf end-lobe are characteristic. Compare the even rarer T. latens. Really attractive forms of the ubiquitous chameleon T. aequilobum can look like T. edmondsonianum, but have twisted bracts.