General: Annual herb from a more or less evident taproot; stems erect, solitary, branched, 15-80 cm tall.
Leaves: Basal leaves smaller than the stem leaves, usually deciduous by flowering time; stem leaves lanceolate to oblanceolate, 2-12 cm long, 0.4-4 cm wide, more or less pinnately cut, irregularly toothed, stalked near the base, becoming unstalked upwards, sparsely to densely long-hairy or sometimes nearly glabrous.
Flowers: Heads with ray and disk flowers, several to numerous heads on sparsely to densely long-hairy stalks in an open inflorescence; involucres 5-7 mm tall; involucral bracts lanceolate, black-tipped, sparsely long-hairy and sometimes glandular-hairy at the tips; bracteoles minute, inconspicuous or lacking; ray flowers yellow, inconspicuous, mostly 1-2 mm long; disk flowers yellow.
Fruits: Achenes oblong, faintly ribbed, white stiff-hairy; pappus of white hairlike bristles.
The table below shows the species-specific information calculated from original data (BEC database) provided by the BC Ministry of Forests and Range. (Updated August, 2013)
Shade-intolerant, submontane to subalpine, European forb introduced to Pacific and At1antic North America. Occurs in maritime to submaritime climates on very moist to wet, nitrogen-rich soils; its occurrence decreases with increasing elevation and continentality. Scattered to plentiful, occasionally dominant, in non-forested communities on cutover, fire-disturbed, or continuously disturbed sites, where it inhabits exposed mineral soils. Often associated with Anaphalis margaritacea, Hieraciumalbiflorum, Hypochaeris radicata, Holcus lanatus, and Mycelis muralis. A nitrophytic species characteristic of early-seral communities.
