Agoseris aurantiaca

Orange Agoseris

Agoseris aurantiaca is not common enough to have a real common name, so its name in English is "Orange Agoseris". Unsurprisingly, aurantiaca is a latin word for "orange". It is a cousin of dandelion, and is sometimes called "Mountain Dandelion". By cousin, I mean that it is in the same tribe (or sub-family) of composite flowers with milky juice and ray-flowers only (no disk flowers like you see in the middle of a daisy). It superficially resembles a dandelion, with the most obvious difference being the bright orange color of the flower. The leaves are not toothed on the edges like dandelion leaves, and the green phyllaries under the flower (a primary character used by botanists to distinguish different genera) are quite different.

Sources say that the leaves of agoseris have been eaten when cooked like spinach. However, when I tried them, I found them to be even more bitter than dandelion leaves, either raw or after being boiled for 5 minutes. Perhaps one could consider this survival food, but when real dandelions are much, much more common, and taste better, why would you bother? Not recommended.