Spring ephemeral with milky sap, glabrous or slightly hairy herbage, flower stalks up to 2 feet tall. Yellow, dandelion-like flowers with pointed bracts extending beyond flower rays. Seed head is a beautiful, silver color in round puffball.
Flower stem erect from basal leaves; milky sap; leaves linear tapering to pointed tip, entire or narrow lobes, soft hairs; individual flower heads have yellow, square-tipped, toothed rays, pointed, green bracts; fruits black with silvery awned scales.
Habitat
Open grassland, woodlands, chaparral, deserts, generally in loose soils.
Flower Characteristics
Solitary flower heads are dandelion-like with pointed green bracts extending beyond flower rays; often several flower stems from the same root. Flower stems are 4 to 24 inches tall and are hollow.
Leaf and Stem Characteristics
Leaves are all basal, or nearly so, 1/16 to 1/4 inch wide, 2-1/2 to 6 inches long; herbage may be slightly hairy; leaf margins can be smooth or with two or more pairs of distantly spaced lobes.
Fruit and Seed Characteristics
Dandelion-like, silvery seed head.
Seeds have 5 papery, silvery, narrow and up to 3/8 inch long scales, which are deeply notched at the apex with a long slender awn.