Taraxacum exsertiforme “Erect-bracted Dandelion”
Section: Ruderalia
Introduced. Locally distributed around a few urban areas, especially Teeside, Deeside and the Severn Estuary; recently found in north Merseyside. Gardens, verges, waste places.
T. exsertiforme has narrow, dark green, rather shiny leaves with winged petioles, white on outer and bright pink on inner leaves. Leaf side-lobes are short and usually patent to forward-pointing, often concavely angled on distal margins. Leaf end-lobes are small, homophyllous, and tend to have rounded side divisions. Exterior bracts are spreading with a sigmoid posture and the involucre is shallow. Distinctively, this is only one of two British Ruderalia species which lacks any pollen.