Oriental false hawksbeard
Prenanthes japonica Linnaeus, Mant. Pl., 107. 1767;
Crepis japonica (Linnaeus) Bentham;
Youngia japonica subsp. elstonii (Hochreutiner) Babcock & Stebbins




nonnative

20180409 blooming when I returned from CA
20170405 they just began blooming
2016 not knowing what the rosette represented, i left them growing under the front saucer magnolia.



Erect, pubescent herb, the leaves mostly in basal rosette, stem with a few cauline leaves; basal leaves petiolate, oblanceolate, pinnately parted, lyrate, finely dentate, usually puberulent, about 3-15 cm long and up to 5 cm wide, the terminal lobe largest; cauline leaves usually only 1-3, subsessile, much smaller; heads several to many in a panicle, 7-8 mm wide; involucre 5-6 mm long, with about 8 inner (longer) bracts; florets about 10-25; corolla about 5-6 mm long, yellow; achenes brown, about 1.8 mm long, with slender scaberulous ribs; pappus soft, white, 3 mm long, persistent" (Stone, 1970; p. 579). — http://www.hear.org/pier/species/youngia_japonica.htm

Asiatic Hawk's Beard has a rosette of lyrate basal leaves that are often pinnately lobed, with the terminal lobe being the largest. It produces a thick straight tap root. The flowering stems are usually leafless, but may have one or two small leaves on them. The flowering stems branch near the top and produce four to thirty flower heads. The heads are composed of yellow ray flowers. The fruit is an achene with a tuff of pappus bristles, much like a dandelion fruit. Asiatic Hawk's Beard is difficult to eliminate once established. Check nursery stock before purchasing it for this weed. If you have this pest, try to clip off the flowering stems before they form fruit to prevent it from spreading further. - http://www.floraofalabama.org/Plant.aspx?id=1063

1. Youngia japonica (Linneaus) de Candolle in A. P. de Candolle and A. L. P. P. de Candolle, Prodr. 7: 194. 1838.
Stems terete, fistulose. Leaves: petioles 1–10 cm, glabrous, puberulent, or densely hairy (hairs often brownish, crinkled); blades 3–12(–25) × 2–4(–6) cm, lateral lobes 0–20, mostly gradually reduced proximally, terminal lobes elliptic, ovate, obovate, or oblong-truncate, larger than laterals, apices obtuse or acute. Peduncles 1–5(–15) mm. Phyllaries 3.5–6 mm, bases and midribs becoming ± spongy, abaxial faces glabrous, glabrate, or hairy (hairs appressed, shining). Florets: corollas mostly 4.5–6.5 mm; anthers dark green (drying purplish); styles and style-branches yellow. Cypselae 1.5–2.5 mm, bases hollow, lightly calloused; pappi 2.5–3.5 mm, slightly surpassing phyllaries. 2n = 16.

Flowering spring–summer (year-round south). Waste places, lawns, etc.; 0–2400 m; introduced; Ala., Ark., D.C., Fla., Ga., Ky., La., Md., Miss., N.Y., N.C., Pa., S.C., Tenn., Tex., Va.; se Asia; introduced also in Mexico, Central America, South America, Europe, Africa, Pacific Islands, Australia.
Youngia japonica is now considered a pantropical weed. Relatively few specimens in the flora match what Babcock and Stebbins called subsp. elstonii, with cauline leaves almost as large as the basal and with conspicuous, lobed bracts at the bases of the proximalmost branches of the capitulescence. In subsp. japonica, to which most of our specimens are referred, the cauline leaves are much reduced or lacking, as are the bracts of the capitulescence.