Goatsbeard
Flowering heads are yellow, consisting
only of ray flowers. Disk flowers are absent. Involucral bracts
are long, narrow, and clearly visible as they extend beyond the
ray flowers. Leaves are long, narrow and grasslike. They occur
individually on the stem and attach directly, without a petiole.
As in the grasses (Family Poaceae), the veins of the leaves lie
parallel to the leaf edges. The fruiting head, which bears a
spherical cluster of billowy, tuft-like seeds, clearly resembles
a large dandelion. The naked stamens and pistils, seen in the
ray flowers of this species, falsely resemble disc flowers. Occurs
in fields from June through July. Native to Europe.
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