Taraxacum acrophorum
G.E.HaglundLeaves lanceolate, 9–14.5 cm long, 2–3 cm wide, grey-green, sparsely woolly hairy; lateral lobes of lamina in 5–7 pairs deltoid and patent, distal margins plane or with a large acute lobule and/or a few short teeth, proximal margins plane incised close to the midrib and thus with narrow interlobe areas; terminal lobe triangular with or without a narrow mucro, the margins plane, petiole rose-purple, unwinged; midrib green except in the lower third. Scapes 9–11 cm long at anthesis, 11–27 cm long in fruit, white-woolly in bud, glabrous at maturity except just under the capitulum, entirely rose-purple. Capitula ca 3 cm diam., outer involucral bracts broad-lanceolate, 8–9 mm long, 2–2.5 mm wide, downcurved, narrowly but clearly white-bordered, apices dark, not callosed; innermost involucral bracts linear c. 20 mm long, 1–1.5 mm wide, not callosed. Outer florets with a flat ligule, exceeding the involucre by ca 5 mm; anthers with pollen; stigmas greenish yellow. Achenes fusiform 3.2–3.5 mm long, 1 mm wide with straight spines less than 0.3 mm long at the apex, smooth to verrucate to the base, light brown to purplish; cone conical 0.2–0.5 mm long; beak 8–9 mm long. Pappus 5–6 mm long. Flowers and fruits mainly Sept.–Apr.
VVP. Also naturalized SA. Widespread in northern and central Europe. Naturalized in the northern suburbs of Melbourne and north-central Victorian, occurring in urban lawns.