Classification
 Nomenclature
Scientific Name:
Taraxacum officinale F.H.Wigg., Prim. Fl. Holsat. 56 (1780)
Synonymy:
  • Leontodon taraxacum L., Sp. Pl. 798 (1753)
  • = Taraxacum dens-leonis Desf., Fl. Atlant. 2, 228 (1799)
  • = Taraxacum officinale var. pygmaea Hook.f., Bot. Antarct. Voy. II. (Fl. Nov.-Zel.) Part I, 152 (1853)
  • = Taraxacum officinale var. glabratus Kirk, Stud. Fl. New Zealand 361 (1899)
Vernacular Name(s):
dandelion; Tawao; Tohetaka; Tohetake; Tohetea
 Description

Perennial rosette herb. Lvs all basal, linear-oblanceolate to obovate, runcinate-pinnatifid to not lobed, toothed, glabrous or with sparse short multicellular hairs especially on midrib above, 5–30–(60) × 1–10–(12) cm; terminal lobe triangular to deltoid, acute or obtuse, truncate or hastate at base; lateral lobes narrowly to broadly triangular, usually recurved, often toothed, especially on distal margin; petiole and proximal part of midrib hollow. Scape stout, hollow, glabrous or cobwebby, 3–35–(60) cm tall. Capitula 3–5 cm diam. Involucral bracts glabrous; outer bracts narrowly obovate, attenuate, dull green or reddish, strongly reflexed to recurved at flowering and fruiting, with margins not scarious; inner bracts narrowly triangular to linear, acute, green, erect, with scarious margins at least at base. Florets golden yellow. Achene body cream to greenish brown, ribbed, clavate, 2.5–3.5 mm long; ribs each with 3–(5) teeth on distal ⅓, the distal teeth longest; cone tapering, 0.5–1 mm long, concolorous with body; beak usually white to cream, rarely dark, slender, 7–10 mm long. Pappus white, 5–7 mm long.

[From: Webb et al. (1988) Flora of New Zealand. Volume 4.]

 Biostatus
Exotic
 Phenology

Flowering: (Jul.)–Sep.–May–(Jun.); Fruiting: (Jul.)–Sep.–May–(Jun.)

 Bibliography
Desfontaines, R. L. 1798-1799: Flora Atlantica sive Historia Plantarum. Vol. 2. L.G. Desgranges, Paris.
Hooker, J.D. 1852–1853 ("1853"): The Botany of the Antarctic Voyage of H.M. Discovery Ships Erebus and Terror in the Years 1839–1843, under the command of Captain Sir James Clark Ross. II. Flora Novae-Zelandiae. Part I. Flowering plants. Lovell Reeve, London.
Kirk,T. 1899: The Students' Flora of New Zealand and the Outlying Islands. Government Printer, Wellington, N.Z.
Linnaeus, C. 1753: Species Plantarum. Impensis Laurentii Salvii, Stockholm.
Wiggers, F.H. 1780: Primitiae Florae Holsaticae. Kiel.