This cosmopolitan weed ("dandelion") has been common since early after settlement. In the central Bluegrass, Short (1828-9) noted: "No portion of the Union is more completely overrun by this naturalized foreigner than this section, being so abundant as to give a yellowish hue to pastures in early spring." T. officinale contains a polyploid series (2n = 16-48), and many apomictic microspecies have been named in Europe. Such nomenclature has not been applied in North America, and the more precise names for our common plants remain somewhat uncertain (FNA 19, Y, W). Robust plants in the Bluegrass region of Ky. sometimes form summer leaves up to 6-7 (7.2) cm long and 10-15 (17) cm wide. Taraxacum is an extraordinary genus, with rosettes of leaves that resist trampling and spread with long thick branching taproots. Its long pinnately lobed leaves resemble the rosette leaves of some Brassicaceae, such as Erysimum and Sisymbrium, but those plants are annuals or biennials with bitter chemistry that tend to reduce consumption by herbivorous mammals. T. officinale is a preferred food for some herbivores, such as rabbits (e.g. Diaz 1999, Choi et al. 2010), although an "ethanolic extract" has reduced male fertility (Al-Kalby & Alwan 2007). The plant is also an important ancient wild food for humans in Eurasia (e.g. Redzić 2010), and there is much evidence of nutraceutical benefits (Di Napoli & Zucchetti 2021). Its diuretic effects are enshrined in the French common name "pissenlit".