Leontodon

Western Australia

Habit, vegetative morphology. Lactiferous, annual or perennial, forbs. Leaves basal, rosulate, simple. Leaf blades divided or entire, when divided pinnatifid (or pinnatisect), pinnately veined, more or less hairy (hairs coarse, multicellular, unbranched or branched); margins entire to dentate. Inflorescence. Plants hermaphrodite. Unit inflorescences solitary (on leafless scapes) or arranged in synflorescences, synfloresences laxly corymbiform (on leafless or sparingly bracteate and few-branched stems). Capitular involucre cylindrical. Capitula ligulate, homogamous, homochromous; bilaterally symmetrical florets non-radiating. Involucral bracts biseriate or multiseriate, 2–3-seriate, subequal, herbaceous. Receptacles flat, glabrous, epaleate (pitted). Marginal florets. Marginal florets absent. Disc florets. Inner (central or disc) florets bilaterally symmetrical, bisexual. Corolla ligulate (corolla tube cylindrical, pubescent above), dorsally sometimes reddish or greenish striped. Stamens of male fertile florets. Tip appendages present, minute. Base appendages sagittate. Styles of female fertile florets. Style branches long; linear (subterete); sub-acute. Style branch appendages lacking. Sweeping-hairs short; acute; scattered dorsally along branches. Fruit. Achenes dimorphic, ellipsoid to fusiform, terete, longitudinally ribbed (transversely distinctly rugulose or muricate), shortly beaked or not beaked, circle of scales at summit absent or present (fused). Pappus present, dimorphic, uniseriate or biseriate, setaceous or squamate; bristles plumose (basally widened, with stiff pinnulae) or scabrid (sometimes both types within a pappus).

Etymology. Greek leon, leontos lion + odous, odontos tooth; translation of the French dent-de-lion or lion's tooth; referring to the characteristically toothed leaf margins.

Additional Note. This genus is probably polyphyletic.

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