Slender sow thistle

Sonchus tenerrimus is a slender annual to short-lived perennial herb of the daisy family growing 15-70 cm tall with a slender taproot and erect to ascending, sparingly branched, glabrous, often glaucous stems that exude a milky latex when cut. Leaves are alternate, pinnatisect into narrow, distant, linear-lanceolate lobes 1-3 cm long, each with a few small spinulose teeth along the margins; the basal leaves are petiolate while the upper ones have auriculate-clasping bases. Inflorescences are loose terminal corymbs of small radiate capitula 15-25 mm across borne on slender peduncles that are glandular-hairy near the involucre; ray florets are bright pale yellow, ligulate, and surround no central disc. Involucral bracts are imbricate and lanceolate. Achenes are flattened, ribbed, finely transversely wrinkled, and crowned with a soft, white, deciduous pappus of fine bristles. A native of dry rocky places, walls, roadsides, and cultivated land throughout the Mediterranean basin, it flowers from spring through autumn.