---
title: Dandelion
canonical: https://gardensuperstore.com.au/problem-solver/dandelion/
dateModified: 2026-08-07 09:47:51
summary: "Dandelion (Taraxacum officinale) is a perennial broadleaf weed with a deep taproot, toothed leaves and yellow flowers. Identify its rosette, puffball seed heads and manage it before seed set."
type: article
keywords: [Dandelion, Taraxacum officinale]
---

# Dandelion

> Dandelion (Taraxacum officinale) is a perennial broadleaf weed with a deep taproot, toothed leaves and yellow flowers. Identify its rosette, puffball seed heads and manage it before seed set.

*Taraxacum officinale*

Dandelion is a low-growing perennial broadleaf weed that forms a flat rosette of leaves close to the ground. The leaves are long, deeply lobed with jagged, backward-pointing teeth (giving rise to the common name, from the French "dent-de-lion" or lion's tooth), mid to dark green, and grow directly from a central crown with no true stem. From this rosette, hollow flower stalks rise 5-40cm tall, each topped with a single bright yellow flower head made up of many thin petals. Flowers close at night and in poor weather, then mature into a fluffy white seed head, or "clock", where each seed has a small parachute of fine hairs that carries it on the wind.

Below ground, dandelion relies on a thick, fleshy taproot that can extend 15-30cm or more into the soil. This taproot stores energy and allows the plant to resprout readily after mowing, slashing or incomplete removal, which is why pulling out the visible rosette often isn't enough to kill it.

It's a common weed of lawns, garden beds, pathways, pastures and disturbed ground throughout temperate and cooler parts of Australia, including Victoria, Tasmania, NSW, the ACT and southern parts of Queensland and South Australia. It grows and flowers for most of the year where moisture is available, with peak growth in spring and autumn, and can survive over summer and winter as a dormant rosette.

Dandelion spreads almost entirely by seed. A single plant can produce well over a hundred seeds per flower head, and these are carried long distances by wind, making it easy for new plants to establish in nearby lawns, garden beds and bare patches. In turf, dandelion is more likely to establish where the lawn is thin, compacted or mown too short, as this gives seeds bare soil to germinate into and reduces competition from grass.

Management relies on preventing seed set, maintaining dense, healthy turf or garden groundcover to limit germination sites, and removing the whole taproot when hand-weeding, since any root left behind can regrow. Repeated mowing before flowering helps reduce seed spread but will not eliminate an established plant on its own because of the persistent taproot.

## How to identify

- Flat rosettes of deeply toothed, green leaves lying close to the ground in lawns, garden beds or along paths
- Bright yellow, daisy-like flower heads on hollow stalks, followed by fluffy white seed heads ("clocks") that disperse on the wind
- A thick, fleshy taproot beneath the rosette that breaks easily if pulled, often leaving a piece behind that can regrow
- Patchy bare areas in lawn where dandelion rosettes have smothered or outcompeted thinning turf**Field check:** dig down beside a rosette and look for the long, tapering white taproot; if you snap it and see a milky white sap ooze from the broken end, this is a strong indicator of dandelion or a close relative rather than a grass weed.

**Lookalikes:** catsear (*Hypochaeris radicata*) and flatweed have a very similar rosette and yellow flower, but their leaves are hairy and less deeply toothed, and their flower stems often branch and feel solid rather than hollow. Cutleaf mignonette and other rosette-forming broadleaf weeds can also be confused with dandelion at the seedling stage, so checking for the hollow flower stalk and milky sap on a mature plant is the most reliable way to confirm identification.

## Registered products we stock

- [Dicamba M | Selective Herbicide](https://gardensuperstore.com.au/dicamba-m-selective-herbicide/) — PCT SureFire
- [Associate | Herbicide](https://gardensuperstore.com.au/associate-herbicide/) — Nufarm
- [Metsulfuron Methyl | Herbicide](https://gardensuperstore.com.au/metsulfuron-methyl-herbicide/) — PCT SureFire
- [Casper | Turf Herbicide](https://gardensuperstore.com.au/casper-turf-herbicide/) — Syngenta
- [Crab Grass & Clover Killer | Selective Weedkiller](https://gardensuperstore.com.au/crab-grass-clover-killer-selective-weedkiller/) — David Grays
- [Fairway | Herbicide](https://gardensuperstore.com.au/fairway-herbicide/) — Adama
- [Freehand | Pre-emergent Herbicide](https://gardensuperstore.com.au/freehand-pre-emergent-herbicide/) — BASF
- [Metmac 600 | Herbicide](https://gardensuperstore.com.au/metmac-600-herbicide/) — Macspred
- [Silverado | Herbicide](https://gardensuperstore.com.au/silverado-herbicide/)

## Image credits

- [Photo: Famartin via Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 4.0)](https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:2019-04-11_12_11_38_Dandelion_blooming_along_Hidden_Meadow_Drive_in_the_Franklin_Farm_section_of_Oak_Hill,_Fairfax_County,_Virginia.jpg)
- [Photo: Famartin via Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 4.0)](https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:2019-04-20_12_15_22_Dandelion_blooming_in_a_lawn_along_Hidden_Meadow_Drive_in_the_Franklin_Farm_section_of_Oak_Hill,_Fairfax_County,_Virginia.jpg)
- [Photo: Famartin via Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 4.0)](https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:2019-04-12_12_30_35_Dandelions_blooming_along_Terrace_Boulevard_in_the_Parkway_Village_section_of_Ewing_Township,_Mercer_County,_New_Jersey.jpg)
- [Photo: Famartin via Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 4.0)](https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:2014-12-25_16_35_32_Dandelion_blossom_along_Terrace_Boulevard_in_Ewing,_New_Jersey.JPG)