Taraxacum Officinale - Taxonomy

Taxonomy

The taxonomy of the genus Taraxacum is complicated by apomictic and polyploid lineages, and the taxonomy and nomenclatural situation of Taraxacum officinale is not yet fully resolved, The taxonomy of this species has in the past been complicated by the recognition of numerous species, subspecies and microspecies. E.g. Rothmaler's flora of Germany recognizes roughly 70 microspecies. The plants introduced to North America are triploids that reproduce by obligate gametophytic apomixis Some authorities recognize three subspecies of Taraxacum officinale including:

• Taraxacum officinale ssp. ceratophorum (Ledeb.) Schinz ex Thellung which is commonly called common dandelion, fleshy dandelion, horned dandelion or rough dandelion. It is native to Canada and the western US. Some sources list it as a species, Taraxacum ceratophorum.
• Taraxacum officinale ssp. officinale, which is commonly called common dandelion or wandering dandelion.
• Taraxacum officinale ssp. vulgare (Lam.) Schinz & R. Keller, which is commonly called common dandelion.

Two of them have been introduced and established in Alaska and the third (ssp. ceratophorum ) is native there.

Taraxacum officinale has many English common names (of which some are no longer in use), including blowball, lion's-tooth, cankerwort, milk-witch, yellow-gowan, Irish daisy, monks-head, priest's-crown and puff-ball; other common names include, faceclock, pee-a-bed, wet-a-bed, swine's snout, white endive, and wild endive.

Carl Linnaeus named the species Leontodon Taraxacum in 1753. The genus name Taraxacum, might be from the Arabic word "Tharakhchakon", or from the Greek word "Tarraxos". The common name "dandelion," comes from the French phrase "dent de lion" which means "lion's tooth", in reference to the jagged shaped foliage.