Phalacroseris bolanderi

Bolander's mock dandelion

Family: Asteraceae · Type: perennial · Native

Bolander's mock dandelion is a California native perennial found in the Sierra Nevada Mountains in wet meadows and sphagnum bogs at elevations of 1,600 to 3,000 meters. Flowering from June to August, this plant produces bright yellow flowers in delicate ligulate heads 10 to 18 millimeters long that readily wither after blooming. Growing with smooth scaped stems 10 to 45 centimeters tall emerging from a fleshy caudex and dark taproot, it has a distinctive milky sap. Its basal leaves are linear to oblanceolate, 6 to 20 centimeters long with obtuse to acuminate tips, arranged in a rosette at the base of the plant. The fruit is a pale brown, dark-spotted oblong achene 3 to 4 millimeters long with a minimal or absent pappus.

Habitat: Wet meadows, sphagnum bogs

Bloom period: Jun-Aug

Elevation: 1600-3000 m

Bioregions: SNH.

Data from The California Species Project — 14,000+ California species with verified data from CNPS, CDFW, USFWS, Jepson eFlora, Cal-IPC, and more.