Japanese name: カントウタンポポ（関東蒲公英） Scientific name:Taraxacum platycarpum subsp. platycarpum
[Overview]
A perennial 15–30 cm tall, found in fields, on embankments, and on the ridges between rice paddies, on lowlands away from urban areas.
Milky sap exudes when the stems or leaves are damaged.
The leaves are simple and basal, oblanceolate, 20–30 cm long and 2.5–5 cm wide, and either pinnately divided or entire.
A single yellow flower head 3.5–4 cm across is borne at the tip of a flower stalk rising erect from the leaf axils.
The florets that make up the flower head are all ligulate florets, numbering 90–150.
The involucre is green and 1.5–2.1 cm long at flowering; the outer involucral bracts are ovate-oblong to oblong, 1/2–2/3 the length of the involucre, and do not curve back.
The outer involucral bracts are densely covered with marginal hairs, and the horn-like projections are 1–3 mm long.
The fruit is a brown to pale yellowish brown, oblong to ovate achene with a pappus, and is dispersed by the wind.
[Uses]
The young leaves and flowers are edible.
The roots are roasted and used as a coffee substitute.
It is also used medicinally.
