Malacothrix glabrata aka Smooth Desert Dandelion

Malacothrix glabrata, commonly called the smooth desert dandelion or smooth desertdandelion, is an annual herbaceous wildflower in the sunflower family (Asteraceae) native to southwestern North America. It ranges from southern Oregon and Idaho south through California, Nevada, Utah, and Arizona into southern New Mexico, and continues into northwestern Mexico (Baja California and Sonora). Within California it is one of the most widespread spring wildflowers of the deserts and adjacent dry interior, occurring from sea level to roughly 1,800 m elevation.

The plant grows as an ascending, moderately branched annual reaching about 10 to 40 cm tall, with stems that are typically wholly glabrous or only sparsely arachno-puberulent near the base. Both basal and cauline leaves are deeply lobed into narrow, linear or filiform segments, and the foliage exudes a milky latex when broken, a typical feature of the chicory tribe. Each branch terminates in a showy daisy-like flower head 2.5 to 6.5 cm across, composed of 31 to 139 strap-shaped ray florets. Corollas are usually pale yellow, but may be cream to white and are sometimes flushed purple or lavender on the underside. Immature central florets often form a small orange to red "button" before opening, giving the head a contrasting eye in early bloom.

Malacothrix glabrata is a hallmark species of warm-desert plant communities, including Mojave creosote bush scrub, shadscale scrub, Joshua tree woodland, and Sonoran and Great Basin desert scrub. It establishes from seed on coarse, well-drained soils in open ground or in the gaps between shrubs, and flowering is concentrated in spring, generally from March through July. Following wet winters it can carpet vast tracts of desert with pale-yellow heads as part of the celebrated southwestern wildflower displays. The species is treated as taxonomically accepted by GBIF, the Jepson eFlora, USDA PLANTS, and POWO; the principal synonym in older literature is Malacothrix californica var. glabrata.