Taraxacum procerisquameum “Large-headed Dandelion”
Section: Ruderalia
(
- Taraxacum procerum
Introduced. Fairly widely distributed through England and Wales, but missing from large parts of eastern England and with a handful of records from southern Scotland and Ireland. Most records are from the twentieth century and it seems to have become much scarcer in recent years. Waste places, verges, gardens, walls etc.
A tall, robust dandelion with rather grey-green, shortly hairy leaves. Petioles white on outer leaves, pink on inners, rather short, winged. Leaf side-lobes 3-4, somewhat recurved, sigmoid on distal margin and often forming a hump close to the mid-rib. Interlobes parallel-sided. Leaf end-lobes heterophyllous, acute, longer on inner leaves, tending to be trilobate on outer leaves, and usually with a rounded subdivision (or two) unilaterally. Exterior bracts pale, recurved, very long (to 18 mm). Capitulum flattish when expanded, to 65 mm in diameter or more. Most likely to be confused with T. rhamphodes which is less hairy, has very pale grey exterior bracts and distal leaf-lobes which point forward.