General: Annual herb from a taproot; stems erect, simple, leafy below, branched at or near the base, glabrous, exuding milky juice when broken, 10-70 cm tall.
Leaves: Basal leaves linear, long-pointed at the tip, 15-30 cm long, entire or pinnately cut with spreading, linear, swept-back lobes, tapering below into a broad, somewhat clasping and sparsely long-hairy stalk that is often fringed with small hairs; stem leaves similar, reduced.
Flowers: Heads with strap-shaped flowers, solitary, terminating the branches; involucres 15-30 mm tall; involucral bracts lanceolate, the inner ones graduated, the outer ones few, somewhat graduated; ray flowers yellow.
Fruits: Achenes slender, 7-17 mm long, blackish; pappus of 5 linear scales, each terminating in a shorter, hairlike bristle arising from a distinct bifid notch in the scale tip.
There are three species of Microseris in B.C. that could be confused with Microseris lindleyi: M. borealis, M. nutans, and M. bigelovii. M. borealis and M. nutans are perennials which have more conspicuous ray flowers that well exceed the involucre, whereas M. lindleyi and M. bigelovii are annuals which have inconspicuous ray flowers that equal or barely exceed the involucre. M. lindleyi has linear pappus scales, each terminating in a short hair-like bristle that arises from a distinctly bifid notched scale tip, and has stems that are leafy below and branched at or near the base. In contrast, M. bigelovii has lanceolate pappus scales, each terminating in a long hair-like bristle that arises from a pointed scale, and has leafless, unbranched stems. Other species of the Lactuceae tribe are also morphologically similar, but only M. lindleyi has the hair-like bristle arising from a distinct, bifid notch in the scale-tip of the pappus (Douglas and Smith 2004h).
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)
