Stats

Lifespan: Annual
Size: Medium
Diet: Photosynthetic
Biome: Temperate grassland
Range: Worldwide
Movement: Sessile
Breeding: Seeds
Defense: Spines
Status: Common

About

A tenacious annual weed found on every continent except Antarctica, prickly sowthistle produces cheerful yellow flower heads identical in shape to dandelions while its hollow stems ooze milky latex when snapped. A single plant can release more than 20,000 feathery, wind-borne seeds.

Life cycle

1.
seed
A dormant seed waits for water and warmth before germinating.
2.
sprout
A first shoot emerges with cotyledon leaves and a tap root reaching down.
3.
sapling
A young plant grows true leaves and a stem or trunk, putting on height each season.
4.
mature
Fully grown, flowering or fruiting at adult size.

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Taxonomy

Kingdom: Plantae
Phylum: Tracheophyta
Class: Magnoliopsida
Order: Asterales
Family: Asteraceae
Genus: Sonchus
Species: Sonchus asper