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DANDELION

NOMENCLATURE

Other Names:

Scientific Name: Taraxacum officinale Weber

 Plant Family: Compositae

 

GENERAL INFORMATION

Botanical Description: herbaceous

 Stems: never long enough to be readily visible but produce a rosette of leaves; contain milky juice

 Leaves: simple, variously lobed, 3 - 12 inches long, contain a milky juice, arise from a crown at or slightly below soil surface

 Roots: thick, fleshy, often with branches

 Flowers: heads 1 - 2 inches in diameter, composed of yellow ray flowers borne on a long, bare, hollow stalk; bloom April - September

 Seeds: tan or reddish-brown, about 3/16 inch long, elongated with a slender tip bearing a tuft of hairs that are easily blown off

 Seedling: Seed leaves are up to 0.25 inch long and pale, dull yellow-green. Subsequent leaves emerge one by one from alternate sides on long leafstalks. Leaves are long with gently serrated edges and exude milky juice when broken. Stem is not apparent.

 

ECONOMIC IMPORTANCE

LIFE CYCLE

Reproduction: perennial

 Propagation: seed; mid-season sprouts can rise from roots or root segments

 Dispersal: Often introduced as soil contaminant and wind-blown seed.

 

DISTRIBUTION

State: Found throughout Wisconsin.

 National: Common throughout almost all of the continental U. S.

 Origin: native of Eurasia

 

ENVIRONMENTAL FACTORS

Ubiquitous; common in lawns, meadows, gardens, waste places. A competitive invader that may establish in new cranberry beds or bare patches. Most competitive at high pH.

 

SCOUTING PROCEDURE/ET

While scouting a cranberry bed for disease and insect pests, identify weed populations as they arise. Note the specie(s) of weed present as well as the population level relative to field area. Example: 30% dandelion, 10% boneset and joe-pye weed mix.

 

REFERENCES

Kummer, A. P. 1951. Weed Seedlings. The University of Chicago Press, Chicago, U.S.A. p. 410.

 Kummer, L. D., T. G. Dittl, and T. D. Planer. 1993. Wisconsin Cranberry Weeds. Wisconsin Cranberry Board, Wisconsin Rapids, Wisconsin. p. 8.

 Lorenzi, H. J. and L. S. Jeffery. 1987. Weeds of the United States and Their Control. Van Nostrand Reinhold Company, New York, New York. p. 328.

 University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. 1981. Weeds of the North Central States: North Central Regional Research Publication No. 281. College of Agriculture, Agricultural Experiment Station. Bulletin 772. p. 237.

 

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