390 



WEED FLORA OF IOWA 



Red-seeded Dandelion (Taraxacum erythrospermum Andrz.). 



Description. — A perennial weed with long root; leaves deeply 

 runcinate-pinnatifid or pinnately divided into narrow segments; 

 heads somewhat smaller than in common dandelion, sulphur yel- 

 low; involucre glaucous, the inner bracts corniculate, appendaged 

 at tip ; the outer short, spreading or ascending ; achene reddish, 

 tuberculate above. 



Distribution.-— Red-seeded dandelion is a much more recent in- 

 troduction than common dandelion. It occurs from Maine to 

 Kansas. Naturalized from Europe, in similar situations to com- 

 mon dandelion in Iowa ; sometimes less abundant and sometimes 

 more abundant than the latter. 



Extermination. — May be exterminated in the same way as the 

 common dandelion. 



Fig. 228. Red-seeded dandelion (.Taraxacum erjithrospermum). Common in 



lawns. 

 (Photographed by Colburn.) 



('lark and Fletcher recommend the following treatment: 

 "It is important to prevent dandelions from seeding in lands 

 adjacent to lawns. Though entailing much labor, the most satis- 

 factory way to deal with them, when deeply rooted in lawns, is to 

 loosen the soil with a. digging fork and pull them up. The use of 



