''Sonchus acaulis'' is a plant species in the tribe

Cichorieae The Cichorieae (also called Lactuceae) are a tribe in the plant family Asteraceae that includes 93 genera, more than 1,600 sexually reproductive species and more than 7,000 apomictic species. They are found primarily in temperate regions of the E ...

within the family

Asteraceae Asteraceae () is a large family (biology), family of flowering plants that consists of over 32,000 known species in over 1,900 genera within the Order (biology), order Asterales. The number of species in Asteraceae is rivaled only by the Orchi ...

. It is found only on the Canary Islands of

Gran Canaria Gran Canaria (, ; ), also Grand Canary Island, is the third-largest and second-most-populous island of the Canary Islands, a Spain, Spanish archipelago off the Atlantic coast of Northwest Africa. the island had a population of that constitut ...

and

Tenerife Tenerife ( ; ; formerly spelled ''Teneriffe'') is the largest and most populous island of the Canary Islands, an Autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community of Spain. With a land area of and a population of 965,575 inhabitants as of A ...

Description

Perennial. Base woody. Leaves in a single large basal

rosette Rosette is the French diminutive of ''rose''. It may refer to: Flower shaped designs * Rosette (award), a mark awarded by an organisation * Rosette (design), a small flower design *hence, various flower-shaped or rotational symmetric forms: ** R ...

up to 1 m across; pinnatifid, wooly, with a pointy tip. Scape up to 1.5 m, without bracts. Inflorescence an umbellate group of flower heads. Peduncles with 1 to several heads, wooly. Involucral bracts broad, very densely white-tomentose. Heads about 2.5 cm across with numerous yellow ray flowers but no disc flowers.David Bramwell and Zoë Bramwell. Wild Flowers of the Canary Islands. Editorial Rueda, Madrid, España. 2001.

Distribution

''Tenerife'': Widespread in forest and xerophytic zones, Sierra Anaga to Teno particularly along the northern coast. ''Gran Canaria'': Montane regions, Los Tiles de Moya, Tenteniguada, Cruz de Tejeda, Roque Nublo, etc., 500-1600 m, locally frequent.

References

External links

Plant Lust
numerous photos
Dave's Garden plant files

Calphotos photo gallery, University of California
acaulis Endemic flora of the Canary Islands Plants described in 1811 Flora of Tenerife Flora of Gran Canaria {{Cichorieae-stub