Taraxacum spiculatum

Leaves lanceolate, 8–13 mm long, 1.5–2 cm wide, green, sparsely cottony-hairy; lateral lobes mostly in 4 or 5 pairs, hamate to patent-triangular with acute apices, distal margins entire or with numeous small acute teeth, proximal margins entire and incised to the midrib and thus with narrow interlobe areas which are usually toothed, terminal lobe sagittate, margins entire; petiole and midrib striated red on green. Scapes 3–16 cm long at anthesis, 13–30 cm long in fruit, white-woolly in bud, glabrous at maturity except just under the capitulum, red above grading to green below. Capitulum c. 3.5 cm diam., outer involucral bracts lanceolate, 6–8 mm long, 2–3 mm wide, patent to recurved, clearly but narrowly white-bordered, apices dark, sporadically callosed; innermost involucral bracts linear, 10–11 mm long, 1–2 mm wide, not callosed. Outer florets with a flat ligule, exceeding the involucre by c. 5 mm; anthers with pollen; stigmas greenish-yellow. Achenes fusiform to turbinate, c. 4 mm long, 1–1.5 mm wide with straight spines less than 0.3 mm long at the apex, smooth to the base, light brown; cone 0.8–0.9 mm long; beak 5.5–8 mm long. Pappus 5–6 mm long. Flowers and fruits mainly Oct.–Apr.