5. Krigia virginica (L.) Willd. (Virginia dwarf dandelion)

Pl. 257 a, b; Map 1076

Plants annual, with fibrous roots. Stems (see discussion below) 1 to numerous, 4–35 cm long, erect or ascending, rarely from a spreading base, unbranched or rarely few-branched from below the midpoint, sparsely to moderately pubescent with spreading, gland-tipped hairs, especially toward the tip. Leaves basal and rarely also 1–4 toward the stem base (see discussion below), sessile or with a short to long, often winged petiole. Leaf blades 0.4–18.0 cm long, linear to lanceolate, oblanceolate or broadly ovate to broadly obovate, entire, toothed, or shallowly to deeply pinnately lobed, the teeth or lobes broadly triangular and pointed, the leaf tip rounded to sharply pointed, the surfaces glabrous or the undersurface (and margins) sometimes sparsely pubescent with short, spreading hairs, these often gland-tipped, sometimes glaucous. Involucral bracts 8–14, 4–7 mm long, narrowly lanceolate to narrowly oblong-lanceolate, flat (not keeled), glabrous, withering and becoming reflexed with age. Ligulate florets 14–35. Corollas 4–12 mm long, yellow to less commonly yellowish orange, those of the outer florets sometimes purplish-tinged on the outer surface. Pappus of 5 bristles and 5 short, inconspicuous scales, the bristles 4–6 mm long, white or nearly so to very light tan or pale straw-colored, the scales 0.5–1.0 mm long, broadly oblong with an irregularly truncate to bluntly angled tip, somewhat transparent, white to light brown (especially toward the base). Fruits 1.5–2.2 mm long, somewhat obconical, 4- or 5-angled in cross-section, with 15–18 blunt ribs, these microscopically roughened or barbed, reddish brown to dark brown. 2n=10, 20. April–August.

Scattered, mostly south of the Missouri River (eastern U.S. west to Wisconsin, Kansas, and Texas; Canada). Glades, sand prairies, swales in upland prairies, tops and exposed ledges of bluffs, and openings of mesic to dry upland forests; also fallow fields, old fields, roadsides, and open, disturbed areas.

Steyermark (1963) suggested that this plant is an attractive addition rock gardens with acidic soils and noted that it reseeds itself. Shinners (1947) noted that although this species is annual, on some occasions a second growth form is produced after flowering has finished and the original basal rosette leaves have withered. This secondary phase, which is quite rare in Missouri, has erect or strongly ascending stems from a sometimes few-branched, spreading to loosely ascending base that appear somewhat longer than the primary stems. It can produce 1–4 slender or short stem leaves toward the stem base that are alternate or sometimes nearly opposite. The heads produced during this supplementary cycle are usually smaller than those that form earlier in the year and have somewhat fewer florets, flowering from late May to late August in Missouri and even later farther south.