Common dandelion

Conservation Status

IUCN Red List

not listed

NatureServe

NNA - Not applicable
SNA - Not applicable

Minnesota

not listed

Weed Status

Though considered a weed almost everwhere it occurs in the United States, common dandelion is not listed as invasive in any state except Oregon.

Wetland Indicator Status

Great Plains

FACU - Facultative upland

Midwest

FACU - Facultative upland

Northcentral & Northeast

FACU - Facultative upland

Description

Common dandelion is an exotic, very common, widely recognized, low growing, herbaceous plant. It is native to Europe, Asia, northern Africa, and the Indian subcontinent. It was introduced and is now naturalized throughout North America. It occurs in every state in the United States, every province in Canada except Nunavut, and every county in Minnesota.

Common dandelion is a hardy and resilient plant, allowing it to thrive in a wide variety of habitats and environmental conditions. It has little ability to spread into high quality native habitats, but it readily invades disturbed areas that have been degraded by human activities. It is found in open areas, including fields, pastures, forest openings, stream banks, roadsides, railroads, lawns, and other disturbed sites. It grows under full or partial sun, in moderately moist soil that contains mostly loam or clay and loam.

Common dandelion is an erect, perennial forb. It can be ¾″ to 23½″ (2 to 60 cm) tall, but it is usually no more than 15¾″ (40 cm) in height. It rises on up to 20 or more basal leaves and 1 to 15 or more flowering stems (scapes) from a deep, somewhat fleshy, seldom branched taproot. When broken, the scapes and leaves exude a milky latex. When pulled or dug up, the plant can regenerate from a small piece of the taproot that remains in the soil. It often forms large colonies.

The leaves are all basal. They are erect to horizontal, ¾″ to 17¾″ (2 to 45 cm) long, and ⅜″ to 4″ (1 to 10 cm) wide. Each leaf is inversely lance shaped, oblong, or inversely egg shaped, and is gradually tapered to a narrow leaf stalk (petiole). The petiole is more or less narrowly winged. The leaf blade is usually shallowly or deeply lobed (pinnatifid), sometimes cut nearly to the midrib, but smaller leaves are sometimes merely toothed. The lobes are broadly to narrowly triangular or nearly lance shaped, and the lobe ends are pointed downwards. The terminal lobe is usually about as large as the adjacent lateral lobes, sometimes larger or smaller. The upper surface is usually hairless. The lower surface may be hairless or it may be sparsely covered along the veins with curled, white, cobwebby hairs.

Each scape is erect or ascending, hollow, round, unbranched, and leafless. It may be hairless or have patches of fine, white, cobwebby hairs.

The inflorescence is a solitary flower head at the end of each scape.

Beneath each flower head there is a group of 12 to 18 bracts (calyculi) in 2 series (collectively the calyx). The calyculi are lance-shaped, bent backwards (reflexed), ¼″ to ½″ (6 to 12 mm) long, and 1⁄16″ to ⅛″ (2.8 to 3.5 mm) wide. They are green to dark green or brownish green, often dark gray or purplish at the tip, and sometimes covered with a whitish waxy film (glaucous). Surrounding the base of the flower head is a bell-shaped whorl of 13 to 18 bracts (phyllaries) in 2 series (collectively the involucre). The phyllaries are lance shaped, 1⁄16″ to ⅛″ (2.8 to 3.5 mm) wide, and about twice as long as the calyculi. The involucre does not have small, horn-like protuberances.

Each flower head is 1″ to 2″ (25 to 50 mm) wide. It is composed of 40 to 100 or more strap-shaped, bright yellow, ray florets and no disk florets.

The fruiting head is a whitish, spherical mass with a feathery appearance. The fruit is an olive colored or olive-brown seed capsule (cypsela) with a tuft of 50 to 105 or more white hairs (pappus) attached at the tip. The cypselae are dispersed by wind.

Height

¾″ to 23½″ (2 to 60 cm)

Flower Color

Bright yellow

Similar Species

Red-seeded dandelion (Taraxacum erythrospermum) leaves are very deeply cut. The terminal lobe is smaller or at least no wider than the 2 adjacent lateral lobes. The flower heads are no more than 1″ across. The achene is reddish-brown.

Habitat

Fields, pastures, forest openings, stream banks, roadsides, railroads, lawns, and other disturbed sites

Ecology

Flowering

April to November

Pests and Diseases

Use

Distribution

Sources

2, 3, 5, 7, 24, 28, 30, 83.

Biodiversity occurrence data published by: Minnesota Biodiversity Atlas (accessed through the Minnesota Biodiversity Atlas Portal, bellatlas.umn.edu. Accessed 2/9/2026).

Midwest Herbaria Portal. 2026. https://midwestherbaria.org/portal/index.php. Accessed 2/9/2026.

Taraxacum officinale Weber ex F.H.Wigg. in GBIF Secretariat (2023). GBIF Backbone Taxonomy. Checklist dataset https://doi.org/10.15468/39omei accessed via GBIF.org. Accessed 2/9/2026.

EDDMapS. 2013. Early Detection & Distribution Mapping System. The University of Georgia - Center for Invasive Species and Ecosystem Health. Available online at www.eddmaps.org/. Accessed 2/9/2026.