General: Perennial herb from a woody stem-base or enlarged fibrous root; stems erect, simple or more often branched, several, often spreading-hairy below, exuding milky juice when broken, 15-60 cm tall.
Leaves: Basal leaves oblanceolate, densely stiff-hairy, toothed or pinnately cut, 3-35 cm long, 5-70 mm wide; stem leaves mostly lacking, represented by minute bracts.
Flowers: Heads with strap-shaped flowers, several in a terminal, flat-topped inflorescence; involucres 10-15 mm tall, at flowering, up to 25 mm in fruit, 2-4 cm wide; involucral bracts graduated, bristly-hairy or glabrous; ray flowers yellow.
Fruits: Achenes nerved on the beak with minute projections, 4-7 mm long, inner ones with a well-developed beak shorter or longer than the body; pappus double, the inner ones of feathery bristles, the outer ones shorter and usually merely finely-barbed.
Mesic to dry roadsides, lawns, pastures and waste places in the steppe and lowland zones; common in SW BC, known from Vancouver Island and the Gulf Islands, also on the Queen Charlotte Islands, rare in SC BC; introduced from Europe.
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)
A very shade-intolerant, subÂmontane to montane, European forb introduced to Pacific, Cordilleran, and Atlantic North America. Inhabits exposed mineral soil on waterÂshedding sites within montane boreal, temperate, and cool mesothermal climates; its occurrence decreases with elevation and latitude. Common in early-seral (often meadow-like) communities. Characteristic of disturbed sites.
