4. Krigia occidentalis Nutt. (western dwarf dandelion)

Pl. 257 c, d; Map 1075

Plants annual, with fibrous roots. Stems 1 to few, 4–10(–16) 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 long, often winged petiole. Leaf blades 0.5–6.0 cm long, linear to oblanceolate or obovate, entire, wavy, toothed, or shallowly to deeply pinnately lobed, the teeth or lobes usually 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, especially toward the base, these often gland-tipped, sometimes slightly glaucous. Involucral bracts 4–7, 2.5–6.5 mm long, narrowly lanceolate to oblong-lanceolate, fused toward the base, becoming somewhat keeled or developing 2 or 3 ribs as the fruits mature, glabrous, more or less persistently scalelike and remaining ascending with age (eventually withering in place). Ligulate florets 6–25. Corollas 4–9 mm long, yellow to orangish yellow. Pappus of 5 bristles and 5 short, inconspicuous scales, the bristles 1–2 mm long, white or nearly so to pale straw-colored, the scales 0.4–0.6 mm long, broadly oblong with a broadly rounded tip, somewhat transparent, white. Fruits 1.2–1.8 mm long, somewhat obconical, 4- or 5-angled in cross-section, with 10–15 blunt ribs, these microscopically roughened or barbed, reddish brown to dark brown. 2n=12. April–May.

Uncommon in the southwestern portion of the Ozark Division (Missouri to Kansas south to Louisiana and Texas). Glades and openings of dry upland forests.

This rarely seen species is easily confused with the superficially similar and much more abundant K. virginica, which can occur in the same habitat and even at the same site. The fewer, somewhat keeled, persistently ascending involucral bracts are the best way to distinguish the two taxa.