Species guide

Dandelion

Harmless

Taraxacum officinale

Dandelion
Photo: Karen Fry · CC BY

How to recognise it

A rosette of jagged, backward-pointing 'lion's tooth' leaves, a single hollow stem with milky sap, a bright yellow flower head, and the familiar white seed clock.

Is it dangerous?

Harmless, and edible to many — but it has lookalikes and roadside plants may carry pollutants, so don't eat foraged plants identified from a photo.

What to do

To control it in lawns, pull it with the whole taproot; a dense, healthy lawn crowds it out.

Recorded 484,245 times in the wild worldwide.

Think you've spotted one?

Photograph it and let SpecieSense confirm the species — and show you the reasoning.

Identify a specimen

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