Krigia dandelion

Perennials, 10-50 cm. rhizomes relatively slender, fibrous-rooted, tubers overwintering, globose, 5-15 mm diam., caudices fibrous-rooted. Stems scapiform. erect, leafless and ebracteate, glabrous or minutely glandular. villous especially proximal to heads. Leaves basal; petioles usually broadly or narrowly winged; blades linear to lanceolate or oblanceolate, 6-24 cm, margins entire or remotely toothed to pinnately lobed, lobes usually entire and acute, apices acute to obtuse, faces usually glabrous, sometimes sparingly villous (glandular or eglandular, often glaucous). Heads borne singly. Peduncles from basal rosettes. Involucres 10-15 mm. Phyllaries 12-16, reflexed in fruit. linear-lanceolate, midveins obscure, apices acute. Florets 25-34; corollas yellow to yellow-orange, abaxially often purplish-tinged, 15-25 mm. Cypselae reddish brown, columnar, 2.5 mm, 10-15-ribbed; pappi of ca. 10, outer scales 0.5-1 mm plus 25-45, barbellulate inner bristles 5-8 mm. 2n = 60.

Flowering Apr-Jun. Sandy or clay-loam soils, open mixed mesophytic and oak-hickory woods, fields, pastures, roadsides; 10-500 m; Ala., Ark., Del., Fla., Ga., Ill., Ind., Kans., Ky., La., Md., Miss., Mo., N.J., N.C., Ohio, Okla., S.C., Tenn., Tex., Va., W.Va.

Krigia dandelion is known from the Eastern deciduous forest biome and tallgrass prairies. It is unique in propagating extensively by means of tubers. These were well described by T. Holm (1891). All chromosome counts to date have shown 2n = 60, the duodecaploid number based on x = 5.

Colonial perennial with slender, tuberiferous rhizomes, generally glabrous except under the heads; scape 1-5 dm, usually solitary; lvs all basal (sometimes a single pair present just above the base), linear to oblanceolate, entire or pinnately few-lobed, 3-20 cm נ2-25 mm; head solitary, 3-4.5 cm wide in fl; invol 9-14 mm, much surpassed by the golden-yellow fls; bracts 9-18, reflexed in age; pappus of 25-40 unequal capillary bristles and ca 10 inconspicuous scales 0.6-1 mm; polyploids based on x=5. Low prairies, fields, and other moist, chiefly open places, often in sandy soil; N.J. to Fla., w. to Kans. and Tex. Apr.-June. (Cynthia d.)

Gleason, Henry A. & Cronquist, Arthur J. 1991. Manual of vascular plants of northeastern United States and adjacent Canada. lxxv + 910 pp.

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From Flora of Indiana (1940) by Charles C. Deam

In sandy clay soil, usually in open woodland on the crests of black oak and chestnut oak ridges. It is found also in low ground in the post oak flats. It is restricted to the southern counties, and Wilson's report for it in Hamilton County I regard as an error in determination, since he does not report Krigia bifora which should be found there. It has been reported also from Clark and Jefferson Counties.

……

Indiana Coefficient of Conservatism: C = 8

Wetland Indicator Status: FACU