Ocassionally I find dandelions with a red leaf. I was wondering why this happens?

Any guesses?

It looks like a dead leaf on a dandelion growing as a weed in a lawn...in the rain.
If you want to grow 'red dandelions' it is a different plant. The Italian red dandelion has green leaves and red midribs.
http://www.johnnyseeds.com/c-4...

No clue, Keith, but pretty cool.

greene said:It looks like a dead leaf on a dandelion growing as a weed in a lawn...in the rain.
If you want to grow 'red dandelions' it is a different plant. The Italian red dandelion has green leaves and red midribs.
http://www.johnnyseeds.com/c-4...

The leaf is attatched and alive, I just finished watering the lawn.

Hmm - was this an old leaf from last year that might have been buried under the snow during winter?

Shadegardener said:Hmm - was this an old leaf from last year that might have been buried under the snow during winter?

No, and I have hundreds of dandelions around and I rarely find a red leaf on any. Would be cool if it's genetic and we could create red leaved dandelions!

Found this photo on another site, but it doesn't explain the red leaves.

My orchids develop red leaves in the winter if they are starved for magnesium. If you have some Epsom Salts, you could try watering the plant with a mild solution, about a tablespoon per gallon. It won't hurt it and if it is magnesium deficiency, the red leaf will turn green in a week or less.

Usually, when you see red leaves like that in a wild plant, it's a result of a viral infection. It's fairly common and, if you look closely, you'll notice similar things in a number of different plant species.

Interesting about the viral infection.

Last year I found some dandys that appeared to have genetic red in the leaves, blotches, a dark blood red, not at all the same bright red all over the leaf... There were dozens of them in one area, presumably where the mother seeded... I forgot about them and when I looked a few weeks ago I couldn't find any, I'm afraid we may have killed them with the yearly cultivating we do it that field... I really meant to snag a few to see if it stayed true and was in fact genetic, but from what I saw, I'm quite confident it was.
I also have some with gigantism... They have very funky cut leaves, many extra teeth, in summer I counted almost 100 leaves on one plant, it was 14" inches across and regularly makes crested blooms, the ones with a big flat flower stalk...
My neighbors hate me...

It's hard to see due to the grass but all those seed heads are from one plant! None of the others in that area can even muster up 1 bloom!
You can well see this ones ready to rock! It's the one I mentioned in my above post, with very serrated leaves, once I start mowing that area they'll really take off, and stool up so you can see them and see how different that one really is!

The single leaf I plucked and pictured is actually rather small for this plant.

It's hard to see due to the grass but all those seed heads are from one plant! None of the others in that area can even muster up 1 bloom!
You can well see this ones ready to rock! It's the one I mentioned in my above post, with very serrated leaves, once I start mowing that area they'll really take off, and stool up so you can see them and see how different that one really is!

The single leaf I plucked and pictured is actually rather small for this plant.