Launaea capitata (Spreng.) Dandy in F.W. Andr., Fl. Pl. Sudan 3: 40. 1956. Sonchus capitata Spreng., Syst. Veg. 3: 650. 1826. Launaea glomerata (Cass.) Hook.f., Fl. Brit. India 3: 417. 1881.

Herbs, biennial or perennial; stems 5 - 25 cm high, erect or profusely branched above the ground, stout, naked, glabrous or sparsely hispid. Leaves all radical, rarely cauline, pinnatifid or runcinate, sinuate-lobed, 5 - 11 x 0.8 - 3 cm, glabrous or sparsely hairy, sessile or subsessile. Inflorescence somewhat racemose on dichotomous branches. Heads broadly campanulate, 1 - 1.3 x 0.6 - 0.9 cm, erect, glabrous, sessile or subsessile. Involucral bracts ovate or obovate-oblong, 2 - 3 mm, glabrous; inner linear-lanceolate or linear-oblong, glabrous, 8 - 1.5 x 2 - 4 mm. Ligules yellow. Achenes columnar, oblong, 4 - 4.5 mm long, somewhat corky, sometimes slightly curved in the middle, 2 - 3 winged; wings and ribs shallowly rounded; inner achenes pale, sometimes narrower and imperfect. Pappus milky white, 5 - 6 mm long, deciduous, soft.

Fl. & Fr. Jan. - June

Distrib. India: In sandy loamy soils, wastelands and cultivated fields, 300-800 m. Punjab and Rajasthan.

Pakistan, Afghanistan, Iran, Iraq, Sudan, Egypt and Africa.