Krigia occidentalis
western dwarfdandelion
1–20+, ± scapiform, erect, eglandular or lightly glandular-villous.
basal (rosettes) and proximally cauline (on scarcely elongated branches close to ground); petiolate (petioles sometimes ciliate-glandular);
blades linear, oblanceolate, or obovate, 1–7 cm, margins entire or sparingly lobed, lobes linear or triangular to rounded, apices acute or obtuse, faces eglandular.
from basal rosettes.
2.5–6.5 mm.
5–25;
corollas yellow, 5–9 mm.
4–7, erect in fruit, lanceolate in flower, becoming ovate-lanceolate in fruit, midveins and sometimes secondary veins becoming prominent in fruit, curving inward at bases to form keels, apices acute.
borne singly.
reddish brown, broadly obconic, 1.2–1.8 mm (apical areas broader than basal areoles), 10–15-ribbed;
pappi of 5, hyaline, rounded outer scales 0.4–0.6 mm plus usually 5, sometimes 0, scabrous inner bristles 1.2–2 mm.
= 12.
Krigia occidentalis
Krigia occidentalis grows in the Eastern deciduous forest biome, tallgrass prairie, and mixedgrass prairie. It has superficial similarity in pappus form to K. virginica; it was consistently placed as the sister species to K. cespitosa in chloroplast cpDNA and nuclear rDNA studies by K. J. Kim et al. (1992b, 1992c). In morphology, it is most similar to the polyploid species K. wrightii, with 2n = 18.
(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)
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