3. Krigia dandelion (L.) Nutt. (potato dandelion)
Pl. 257 h, i;
Map 1074
Plants
perennial, mostly with fibrous roots and slender, sometimes nearly vertical
rhizomes producing 1 or a few globose to ovoid, potato-like tubers 5–15 mm in
diameter. Stems 1 to few, 10–50 cm long, erect or ascending, unbranched,
glabrous or sparsely to moderately pubescent with spreading, gland-tipped
hairs, especially toward the tip. Leaves basal, sessile or with a short to less
commonly long, winged petiole. Leaf blades 2–25 cm long, linear to narrowly
lanceolate or narrowly oblanceolate, entire, wavy, toothed, or shallowly to
deeply pinnately lobed, the teeth or lobes spreading, broadly triangular and
pointed or occasionally oblong and rounded, the leaf tip rounded to more
commonly sharply pointed, the surfaces glabrous or rarely sparsely pubescent
with short, appressed hairs, usually glaucous. Involucral bracts (12–)14–16, 10–15
mm long, narrowly lanceolate to narrowly oblong-lanceolate, flat (not keeled),
glabrous, withering and becoming reflexed with age. Ligulate florets 25–35.
Corollas 12–25 mm long, lemon yellow to orangish yellow, those of the outer florets
sometimes purplish-tinged on the outer surface. Pappus of 25–45 bristles and 10–15
short, inconspicuous scales, the bristles 5–8 mm long, white or nearly so to
very light tan, the scales 0.5–1.0 mm long, irregularly lanceolate to
oblanceolate (rarely broader), transparent but sometimes with a darker central
line or stripe. Fruits 2.2–2.7 mm long, more or less cylindrical (slightly
expanded at the tip, slightly tapered at the base), more or less circular in
cross-section, with 12–15 blunt, broad ribs, these microscopically roughened or
barbed, reddish brown to dark brown. 2n=60. April–June.
Scattered,
mostly south of the Missouri River (eastern U.S. west to Iowa and Texas).
Upland prairies, glades, ledges and tops of bluffs, openings of mesic to dry
upland forests, margins of sinkhole ponds, and banks of streams and rivers;
also rarely disturbed areas.