General: Biennial or sometimes annual herb from a taproot; stems erect, solitary, simple or sometimes branching from the base, lightly woolly-hairy when young, becoming glabrous except at leaf bases, exuding milky juice when broken, 0.3-1 m tall.
Leaves: Basal leaves lacking; stem leaves entire, grasslike, tapering uniformly from base to the apex, parallel-veined, with clasping bases, 20-50 cm long, 0.5-2 cm wide.
Flowers: Heads with strap-shaped flowers, solitary, on much-enlarged, hollow stalks terminating the stems or few branches; involucres 2.5-7 cm tall; involucral bracts linear-lanceolate, equal, usually about 13 or only 8 on dwarfed plants or on last-formed heads, distinctly surpassing the ray flowers; ray flowers pale yellow; disk flowers lacking.
Fruits: Achenes elongate, 5- to 10-ribbed, 2.5-3.6 cm long, tapering to the slender beak; pappus of whitish, slender-tipped, feathery bristles, the feathery branches interwebbed.
1. Stalks of the heads cylindric, not enlarged above; outer ray flowers yellow, equal to or exceeding the involucral bracts.........................T. pratensis
1. Stalks of the heads enlarged above outer ray flowers yellow or purple, shorter than the involucral bracts.
2. Ray flowers purple; involucral bracts usually 8-9; leaves dilated and clasping at the base.........................T. porrifolius
2. Ray flowers yellow; involucral bracts usually 13; leaves generally tapering evenly from the base to the tips..............................T. dubius
Source: Illustrated Flora of British Columbia
Habitat / Range
Dry roadsides, fields and waste places in the lowland, steppe and montane zones; common in S 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)
