Dandelion with a Stout Root

It's not the biggest dandelion I have ever come across in my yard, but it may be the one with the thickest root. It is not really a dandelion either, more along the lines of catsear. My first thought when it came out was that it looked a lot like a turnip. A Google search turned up this page on the OSU site which has more information than I really needed. It is an invasive species to this continent. The OSU page mentions the Pacific Northwest and Northeast Ohio specifically which are, coincidentally enough, the same areas of North America that I have invaded. Dunh, dunh, du-u-u-h!


The bad news is that it can best be controlled by hand weeding. As if I did not know that already. The worse news is that it is a perennial, so it will keep on giving and giving until I do weed it.