Taraxacum croceum

Taraxacum croceum, sometimes called northern dandelion or marsh dandelion, is a perennial herb in the Asteraceae family belonging to the apomictic complex of microspecies traditionally grouped under section Spectabilia (or Crocea). The species is native to wet meadows, fens, mires, and stream margins of arctic-alpine and boreal Eurasia and parts of North America. Plants form a basal rosette of oblanceolate leaves that are runcinate-pinnatifid to nearly entire, often with darker markings along the midrib, arising from a stout taproot. Scapes are hollow, leafless, and 5 to 30 centimetres tall, each bearing a single solitary capitulum of golden-orange to deep yellow ligulate florets, the colour reflected in the specific epithet meaning saffron-coloured. The outer involucral bracts are usually appressed and unbordered. Reproduction is predominantly apomictic, giving rise to numerous microspecies treated under aggregate names.