Size:

• Grows a wide, mostly flat rosette in the first year; second year grows a single stem 5-10 ft tall

Leaves:

• Light green, soft and fuzzy/wooly, light midrib, large and long at the base and getting smaller progressively up the stem

Stem:

• Thick and erect

Flowers:

• Small, yellow, with 5 petals; occur in spikes at the top of the stems

Roots:

• Deep taproot with a fibrous root system.

Seeds:

• Produces many tiny, brownish seeds from June to August, as many as 250,000 seeds per plant!

Habitat:

• Roadsides, pastures, meadows, waste areas, especially in gravelly soils

Control:

• Hand pull or dig rosettes when soil is moist. Turn upside down to dry out. Cut mature plants as close to the ground as possible. If spikes are present, bag to avoid scattering seeds. Cutting the spike off will prompt the plant to grow additional spikes. Don’t let it set seeds!