Resources for identifying dandelions to section
British Columbia paper cataloguing overlooked dandelion diversity:
https://cdnsciencepub.com/doi/10.1139/cjb-2018-0094
Key here: https://forum.inaturalist.org/t/overlooked-dandelion-diversity-in-bc-and-everywhere-in-north-america/3808/54 / https://cdnsciencepub.com/doi/pdf/10.1139/cjb-2018-0094#page=4
Terms:
Appressed: Laying flat against
Corniculate: Having a knob or horn (at the end of a bract)
Cyprela: Seed
Involucre: Bracts around the base of the flower
Glaucous: Pale greyish, maybe waxy or powdery coating
Hamate: Hooked at the tip
Crisped: Edge of leaf curled or ruffled
Rugose: Rough or wrinkled surface, e.g. creases from veins underneath the leaf
Oblanceolate: With a wide end of the leaf and tapering towards a thin base of the leaf (opposite of lanceolate)
Obovate: Egg-shaped, with the wide end at the end of the leaf
Capitula: Flower head
Ligule: The petal part of a ray flower's florets
Abaxial: On the underside or outside
More images of specimens examined for the paper here: https://morphobank.org/index.php/Projects/Media/project_id/3346
Going through the sections in the paper
More terms
arachnoid: Covered with thin soft hairs or fibres
strigillose: Covered with stiff thin bristles
sagittate: Shaped like an arrowhead
ampliate: Having a prominent outer edge
heterophyllous: Having multiple kinds of leaves
dentate: With toothlike projections
British dandelions (note that section Ruderalia is now considered section Taraxacum while what they refer to as Taraxacum is now Crocea I think)
- https://bsbi.org/identification/taraxacum
Guide to sections
https://bsbi.org/wp-content/uploads/dlm_uploads/An-Introduction-to-Dandelions.pdf
https://bsbi.org/wp-content/uploads/dlm_uploads/BSBI-dandelions-workshop-BSBI-2018-2-Tim-Rich-sections-1-1.pdf
https://twitter.com/BrambleBotanist/status/1250739570846642178Keys to sections
https://dandelionsectionkey.weebly.com/uploads/9/4/0/7/94076359/key_to_dandelion_sections.pdf
https://archive.bsbi.org.uk/Wats9suppl.pdf (old and outdated, sect. Vulgaria = sect. Taraxacum)
Stace key https://paintdrawer.co.uk/nature/taraxacum-key-gloss-idx-handbook.pdf / https://paintdrawer.co.uk/nature/taraxacum-key-stace3-layout.pdf / https://paintdrawer.co.uk/nature/taraxacum-stace3.pdfKeys below section
https://bsbi.org/wp-content/uploads/dlm_uploads/Taraxacum_sect_Ruderalia_Crib_3.pdf
https://bsbi.org/wp-content/uploads/dlm_uploads/Taraxacum-section-Erythrosperma-2020.pdf- https://paintdrawer.co.uk/nature/taraxacum-dia-sell-murrell.pdf
facebook group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/1008799279201801/
https://www.facebook.com/notes/dandelions-taraxacum-of-britain-and-ireland/taraxacum-notes/1645151468899909- Pictures of lots of dandelions from Wales: https://museum.wales/curatorial/biosyb/vascular/collections/taraxacum/cardiff/
- Video of John Richards (British dandelion authority) going through roughly 30 sample dandelions, listing their key features and identifying them: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yNbbY29j1PI
Rest of Europe
- 1976 key to sections for Europe: https://books.google.it/books?id=QXRooltqAVMC&lpg=PP1&hl=it&authuser=1&pg=PA332#v=onepage&q&f=false (alt links 1, 2)
- Website and key for dandelions of the Netherlands: https://translate.google.com/translate?sl=nl&tl=en&u=https://www.taraxacumnederland.nl/detemineersleutel-secties / https://ddon7jxd6hwcv6uwfzjpasrg54--www-taraxacumnederland-nl.translate.goog/detemineersleutel-secties
Germany https://translate.google.com/translate?hl=&sl=de&tl=en&u=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.blumeninschwaben.de%2FZweikeimblaettrige%2FKorbbluetler%2Ftaraxacum.htm
http://botanischer-verein-sachsen-anhalt.de/wp-content/uploads/2016/06/Taraxacum-in-Ostdeutschland.pdf- Czech dandelions https://pladias.cz/en/taxon/overview/Taraxacum%20sect.%20Taraxacum
- Swedish dandelions https://translate.google.com/translate?sl=sv&tl=en&u=http://linnaeus.nrm.se/flora/di/astera/tarax/welcome.html
- Finnish dandelions https://laji.fi/taxon/MX.42419/taxonomy
- facebook groups: northern Europe https://www.facebook.com/groups/757470254418802, France https://www.facebook.com/groups/2583151775294914
Other
https://ueaecologyakane.wordpress.com/2020/04/14/identificaiton-of-a-dandelion-taraxacum/
Victoria, Australia https://vicflora.rbg.vic.gov.au/flora/taxon/6cfc234d-fbd2-4e23-8a3b-24b71daaeeff
1985 designation of new type specimen in section Crocea https://www.jstor.org/stable/1222201 then 2011 designation of new type in section Ruderalia https://www.jstor.org/stable/41059837 (causing changes of definitions where those sections are respectively renamed section Taraxacum)
FNA: http://floranorthamerica.org/Taraxacum
Section Palustria in Ontario... https://www.researchgate.net/publication/274251093
Basically you need good photos of the leaves from early in the year (April/May?), side/underside of the flower, and whether or not there is pollen on the stigmas. It seems helpful to measure the dimensions of the outer bracts (length and width).
Curious to see if anyone tries this stuff out. I don't have any good observation to try out yet since they're all from regularly mown grass or from in the summer...