''Hedypnois rhagadioloides'', the Cretanweed or scaly hawkbit, is a species of plant in the tribe Cichorieae within the family

Asteraceae The family Asteraceae, alternatively Compositae, consists of over 32,000 known species of flowering plants in over 1,900 genera within the order Asterales. Commonly referred to as the aster, daisy, composite, or sunflower family, Compositae w ...

. It is native to the Mediterranean Region and neighboring areas from

Canary Islands The Canary Islands (; es, Canarias, ), also known informally as the Canaries, are a Spanish autonomous community and archipelago in the Atlantic Ocean, in Macaronesia. At their closest point to the African mainland, they are west of Morocc ...

to Iran, and naturalized in Australia and in parts of the Americas (southwestern United States,

Baja California Baja California (; 'Lower California'), officially the Free and Sovereign State of Baja California ( es, Estado Libre y Soberano de Baja California), is a state in Mexico. It is the northernmost and westernmost of the 32 federal entities of Mex ...

in Mexico, central Chile). ''Hedypnois rhagadioloides'' is a variably hairy/hispid annual herb with flower stalks up to 40 centimeter (16 inches) stall, most of the leaves gathered around the base resembling the common dandelion except for the bristles. Leaves are green or purplish, up to 18 centimeters (7.2 inches) long. The plant produces a flower stalk with one single flower head or a flat-topped array of several heads. The head has rows of phyllaries that may be very bristly, and the head is egg-shaped when still closed. Each head contains 8-30 yellow ray flowers but no disc flowers.Flora of North America, ''Hedypnois cretica'' (Linnaeus) Dumont de Courset, 1802, syn of ''H. rhagadioloides''
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References

External links

photo of herbarium specimen at Missouri Botanical Garden, collected in MacedoniaTela Botanica
in French with photos and French distribution map
On-line Flora of Malta
many photos
Jepson Manual Treatment
Plants described in 1753 Taxa named by Carl Linnaeus Cichorieae Flora of Malta {{Cichorieae-stub