蒙古蒲公英 meng gu pu gong ying

Herbs 8-25 cm. Petiole usually narrow; leaf blade mid-green, oblanceolate, 6-15 × 2-3.5 cm, subglabrous to sparsely arachnoid, pinnatilobed, pinnatisect, or rarely undivided; lateral lobes 3 or 4 pairs, broadly triangular, obtusely deltoid, or broadly linear, patent to recurved, distal margin sparsely dentate or entire, apex obtuse; interlobes broad, sometimes spotted dark purple, margin entire to sparsely dentate; terminal lobe broadly triangular, apex broadly obtuse. Scapes single or rarely branched with an ascending side scape, brownish green, equaling to slightly overtopping leaves, scattered arachnoid but densely arachnoid below capitulum. Capitulum 3-4 cm wide. Involucre mid-green, 1-1.2 cm wide, base ± rounded. Outer phyllaries 9-15, mid-green to pale green, ± not imbricate, linear-lanceolate to narrowly lanceolate, outermost ones 6-9 × 0.8-2.5 mm and ca. 1/2 as long as inner ones, loosely appressed, distinctly veined, border indistinct, paler green to membranous, often suffused pink, and 0.1-0.3 mm wide, margin ± densely ciliate, apex with a green or purplish thick horn to 1.5 mm; inner phyllaries 1.1-1.5 cm, apex flat to corniculate. Ligules yellow; outer ligules outside striped grayish purple; inner ligules with blackish to purple apical teeth. Stigmas pale green. Anthers polliniferous; pollen grains irregular in size. Achene ± brown to grayish brown, 4.2-4.6 × 1.1-1.3 mm; body tuberculate throughout, apically densely tuberculate-squamulose, gradually narrowing into a subconic 1-1.2 mm cone; beak 7-10 mm. Pappus yellowish, ca. 6 mm. Fl. spring, occasionally also to late summer. Agamosperm. 2n = 24*.

● Abandoned fields, grasslands, along paths and roads; 800-2000(-2800) m. Anhui, Fujian, Guangdong, Guizhou, Hebei, Heilongjiang, Henan, Hubei, Hunan, Jiangsu, Jilin, Liaoning, Nei Mongol, Shaanxi, Shandong, Shanxi, Sichuan, Xizang, Zhejiang.

The stated distribution of Taraxacum mongolicum is based on the report in FRPS (80(2): 34. 1999), but material has not been revised and can only be confirmed for Hebei, Shanxi, Sichuan, and Xizang. However, the reported occurrences in Gansu, Qinghai, Taiwan, and Yunnan are improbable, and material under that name in herbaria from these provinces belongs to other taxa.

For Taraxacum mongolicum var. caninum and T. mongolicum var. laeve see the discussion of T. sect. Mongolica, above.