1. Nothocalais cuspidata (Pursh) Greene (prairie dandelion)

Agoseris cuspidata (Pursh) D. Dietr.

Microseris cuspidata (Pursh) Sch. Bip.

Pl. 260 d–f; Map 1087

Plants perennial herbs, with a fleshy to somewhat hardened taproot. Latex white. Stems usually solitary, 9–35 cm long, erect, unbranched, finely longitudinally lined or ridged, moderately to densely pubescent with white, curled to woolly hairs near the tip, more sparsely hairy below the apical 1/3, often glabrous or nearly so toward the base. Leaves all basal, sessile or tapered to an indistinct, short, winged petiole, usually appearing somewhat sheathing at the base (note that usually 2 or 3 short [1–4 cm], brown, sheathing, scalelike leaves are present outside the normal leaves). Leaf blades 7–35 cm long, linear, unlobed and grasslike, the margins entire, flat or undulate, densely pubescent with short, curled hairs, the surfaces glabrous or sparsely pubescent with somewhat longer, curled hairs, glaucous. Venation of 1 broad, pale main vein and a usually faint network of elongate, anastomosing secondary veins. Head solitary at each stem tip. Involucre 13–27 mm long at flowering, only slightly elongating at fruiting, cup-shaped to bell-shaped, the bracts 13–35, in usually 2 subequal but overlapping series, narrowly lanceolate to lanceolate, mostly long-tapered to a sharply pointed tip, glabrous or minutely hairy toward the tip, green with narrow to broad, thin, pale margins, sometimes purplish-spotted or with a faint purple midvein. Receptacle naked, shallowly pitted at the base of each floret. Ligulate florets 35–80. Corollas 15–27 mm long, bright yellow, often somewhat grayish- or purplish-tinged on the outer surface. Pappus 8–11 mm long, of numerous bristles, these minutely barbed, white, grading into varying numbers (often numerous) of very narrow, awnlike scales similar to and difficult to distinguish from the bristles. Fruits 7–10 mm long, narrowly cylindrical (tapered slightly at the base), not flattened, (8–)10-ribbed, not beaked, not expanded at the tip, the surface minutely roughened, otherwise glabrous, yellowish brown to brown. 2n=18. April–June.

Uncommon, widely scattered in the eastern and western portions of the state (Wisconsin to Arkansas west to Montana and Texas; Canada). Glades and loess hill prairies.

The Missouri Natural Heritage Database records occurrences for this taxon in Pettis and Ralls Counties, but apparently no vouchers were collected from these populations and the counties thus are not mapped.