Monster dandelion, it's taller than me. How? Why? Please help.
Hardiness Zone: 7a
By Cheryl Crockett from Washington, DC
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Would you mind posting a picture of the plant? Doesn't sound like a dandelion, but some other plant species. Only place I can remotely imagine a dandelion growing that tall would be in the rain forest regions and nobody has ever shown one that large.
Ive noticed the same thing here in VT all of the sudden they are almost 6 foot tall ones
I submitted a picture with my original post and was surprised when it wasn't displayed.
Here is a picture. I'm just under six feet tall and I am looking up to see the top of the plant (see the white door just behind it?).
It is clearly a dandelion. The stems are thicker than my finger. I am afraid it is going to try to eat the house!
Later, I will post a close-up picture of the yellow flowers and the white fluffy ones when they go to seed. Ironically, they are slightly smaller than the normal dandelion flowers. It sounds like I need to call my local agricultural experts.
I have similar growing I my garden, it's about 5 foot tall. I thought it was a dandelion too as it has the thick hollow stems and yellow flowers thought the petals don't protrude as much as the dandelion.
I was just looking at a plant like that but not as tall. It has a milky substance when it's broken which is supposed to be a pain reliever. Strong as a drug of some kind that is abused. Can't remember the name, opeum maybe if I spelled it right. I always use dandelion as medicine. It even helps me sleep.
The plant with the milky substance is milkweed, it's the only plant the monarch butterfly has as its good source. Don't rub your eye, it will burn.
My daughter in Overland Park, KS, has this in her yard this year for the first time. A horticulturalist said it is American Fireweed.
That is milkweed not a dandelion.
that is absolutely not a milkweed.
Prickly Sow-thistle. It also is available as smooth Sow-thistle (an Irish plant) This is EDIBLE and can be used for humans and as green foraging plants for ducks! They LOVE the leaves and eat it to the ground!
I have one like that growing at my porch. It's about 12 feet tall now.
It's called wild lettus, in was used as a pain reliever similar to Morphin with the same properties.
Cats Ear is the name. Natural opioid
Oops, sorry. The plant that looks almost exactly like a dandelion is wild lettuce. It can grow up to 7 feet tall and, when you snap a stem, exudes a milky white substance. It has opium like qualities and was used as a painkiller in the Civil War.
They are talking about wild lettuce which has an opium type latex
Hi, I have the same in my gardens. I stopped feeding the birds due to rat attraction and was sad. However, the chickadees enjoy the dandelion I see in your pic so much(wildly) that I don't pull them out anymore. I'm going to try to move them all to one area so I can watch them from kitchen window. So very hardy I hope they do okay.
Yes I have dandelions just like yours & so very tall. The birds (wild finches I believe) go absolutely wild for them, fascinating. They have found a fresh food source. I dont pull them out, if the are not taking over other plants, I leave them. If they are, I transplant them to an area of my dog run where they can keep on. I love this. Never noticed them before. MargeJ
Wild lettuce produces the milky substance that is dried to substance similar to opium.
Absolutely not milkweed. I have this same 'dandelion' look alike growing in my tropical milkweed garden. They are not even close to looking anything like any milkweed I've ever seen. I have had several kinds of milkweed because I used to raise monarchs from egg to butterfly
Not a dandelion. Flowers grow close to ground and are large, round and yellow, and have white puffy seed heads after blooming. The stem is hollow and could never stand upright if that tall.
This is considered a weed in my area. A fancy term is wild flower. I will try and see if I can locate the name of this plant life.
I am from Minnesota and we call it a sow thistle. If it is a thistle, it should have stickers on it and you would have to wear gloves to dispose of it.
This is DEFINITELY SOW THISTLE!
Thanks so much for identifying it! I have been looking for this plant but thought it was called "Texas Dandelion" as that is what we bought the seeds as over 10 years ago and we need some new seeds. NOW I know what I am looking for! These are EDIBLE!!! We use them for our Muscovy Ducks!!
You can find sellers of the seeds on Amazon, Ebay and Etsy.
Not sow thistle, it has a smooth stem
Looks and sounds like Cat's-ear to me, or Hawk's-beard, but I've NEVER seen them that tall! Try looking up Hypochoeris radicata and Crepis biennis perhaps you have a giant version!
Marg from England
It looks like prickly lettuce very hard to get rid of. I wouldn't let it go to seed as
you will have it all over and will never get rid of it.
Cresses is the wild plant's name....growing all over pastures in OH right now. Has small multi yellow blossoms
Prickly lettuce, aka milk thistle. It has been very aggressive in the US these past couple of years.
Prickly lettuce is able to destroy the opioid crisis in the US atm. Look up how to turn it in to a salve. We could take down the pharma industry if we took back the power of weeds to heal us.
Good luck America.
Looks like hawkweed to me.
It is False Dandelion also know as Spotted Catsear.
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