Daisy & Dandelion [Asteraceae] |
Flowers: |
Pappus: (white, simple) |
status
flower
morph
petals
stem
stem
27th July 2007, Arable Field, near Formby, Lancashire. | Photo: © RWD |
Grows in margins of arable fields. |
27th July 2007, Arable Field, near Formby, Lancashire. | Photo: © RWD |
Tall to 1.5m with large showy deep-yellow dandelion-type flowers. |
7th Aug 2007, Martin Mere, Near Rufford, Lancashire. | Photo: © RWD |
Lanceolate pinnate leaves are greyish underneath and clasp the stem. |
20th Aug 2006, Arable Field, Bispham Green, Near Appley Bridge, Lancashire. | Photo: © RWD |
Large showy bright-yellow flowers, often looking windswept. |
15th July 2009, Arable Field, Near Martin Mere, Rufford, Lancs. | Photo: © RWD |
Flower buds are ribbed, cylindrical and olive-green with hairs. |
20th Aug 2006, Arable Field, Bispham Green, Near Appley Bridge, Lancashire. | Photo: © RWD |
Large showy flowers. |
7th Aug 2007, Martin Mere, Near Rufford, Lancashire. | Photo: © RWD |
The stems are hairy too. |
6th Sept 2005, Rufford Branch of Leeds & L/pool Canal, Tarleton. | Photo: © RWD |
The hairs are yellow with sticky blobby ends. |
24th Aug 2011, Rainford, Merseyside. | Photo: © RWD |
The bracts immediately beneath the flower are olive green and covered in yellowish sticky glandular hairs. |
15th Aug 2014, coastal dunes, Hightown, Sefton Coast. | Photo: © RWD |
Some bracts go light-brown. |
15th July 2009, Arable Field, Near Martin Mere, Rufford, Lancs. | Photo: © RWD |
Sticky hairs are yellow. |
8th July 2016, waste ground, Ellesmere Port, Cheshire. | Photo: © RWD |
The sticky hairs are broader where they meet the flowerhead. They are hollow and a sticky blob of some pale-yellow coloured resinous substance gathers at the top. |
8th July 2016, waste ground, Ellesmere Port, Cheshire. | Photo: © RWD |
Some hairs are very broad where they are attached to the sepals which is probably a reservoir for the sticky substance. |
7th Aug 2007, Martin Mere, Near Rufford, Lancashire. | Photo: © RWD |
Pinnate lanceolate Leaves clasp the stem, with auricles. |
7th Aug 2007, Martin Mere, Near Rufford, Lancashire. | Photo: © RWD |
Pinnate clasping the stem. |
24th Aug 2011, Rainford, Merseyside. | Photo: © RWD |
A young plant, with stem leaves fully grown but barely off the ground. |
24th Aug 2011, Rainford, Merseyside. | Photo: © RWD |
The seed clock is very dense consisting of hundreds very fine white hairs, some of which can be seen sticking to the sticky glandular hairs of the adjacent spent flower. |
27th July 2012, Marshside, Southport. | Photo: © RWD |
Seeds ready to blow away, indeed, several have done before your Author could take the photo. Seeds brown. |
27th July 2012, Marshside, Southport. | Photo: © RWD |
It seems to the Author that the parachutes with thin white hollow stalks belong to disc florets that didn't get fertilised, whilst those with roughly surfaced ovaloid brown seeds belong to those that were fertilised. Or maybe the white ones have not been pollinated and therefore not ripened into seeds?
Another possibility is that the white ones belong to male-only florets? |
Some similarities to : Smooth Sow-Thistle but that has much small flowers that are lemony yellow being even more pale towards the periphery and does not possess sticky hairs. Slight resemblance to : Prickly Sow-Thistle but that has smaller flowers that although yellow, are not as deeply yellow as Corn Sow-thistle. Prickly Sow-Thistle also has much more robust stems. Uniquely identifiable characteristics Distinguishing Feature : No relation to : Any of the many thistles, apart from both belonging to the Daisy Family.
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Sonchus | arvensis | ⇐ Global Aspect ⇒ | Asteraceae |
Sonchus (Sow-Thistles) |
Daisy & Dandelion [Asteraceae] |