Prickly Sow-Thistle
• PHOTO BY ME •
The flowers are similar to that of the dandelion, too, but a close examination will show some differences. The photos below show the morphology of the flowers; the photo on the left is a common Dandelion, and the photo on the right is the Prickly Sow-Thistle:
Note the differences in the leaves in the above photo, as well. The dandelion (on the left) has leaves with rounded lobes, and the leaves only appear at the base of the plant, at ground level. The edges of the leaves on the Prickly Sow-Thistle[2] (on the right) have jagged, sharp looking "teeth" (although they are not really sharp) and the leaves alternate all the way up the stalk of the plant.
Another difference is that dandelions only have one flower at the top of each stalk. The Prickly Sow-Thistle does that, too, sometimes, but can often have two branches at the top of each stalk, each with a flower. Of course, when the flowers fade and the seed-heads appear, there will be two seed-heads close together:
• PHOTO BY ME •
😊SOURCES
1 FIrst-Nature.com: Sonchus asper - Prickly Sow-thistle
2 LucidCentral.org: Sonchus asper (L.) Hill
3 Quora.com: Tall weed with dandelion-like toothed leaves
4 Wikipedia: Sonchus
5 Wikipedia: Sonchus asper
It looks like a cotton candy. Considered as a weed even though it's edible both to humans and animals
ahh, I'm sure you've seen these flowers!
a great share. thanks for the information you gave and the photos are great!
We call that plant čičak. I dare you to pronounce it hihihi. Something like chichack. thank you for another great post 💚
Love reading your gardening posts.
I never knew those where dandelions, thought they were sunflowers🤔
Hi this is bot belongs to @sapphic
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I never knew that, although the difference is pretty noticeable I'm sure I wouldn't have seen it. Thanks for teaching me something interesting today!
This plant is really very similar to a dandelion. I will now always pay attention to the shape of the leaves :)
I have seen these, they are beautiful when you blow on them, something I remember doing a lot as a child, there are not as many in WA where I live now but I am sure I will find some to play with my kids :)