Well, down here it's too late for Dandelions to be sending up fruiting heads so I took a second look. Of course it wasn't a Dandelion at all. For one thing, this plant's leaves are unlike Dandelion leaves. For another, the sturdy stem below the fruiting "puffball" in the picture bears leaves, while you'll probably recall that stems below Dandelion heads are more fragile, are hollow, more slender, and they don't bear leaves. Technically the Dandelion's flower stem is a peduncle, and peduncles don't bear leaves or fork.

The plant in the picture is the Goat's-beard, also known as False Dandelion, Meadow Salsify and even Jack-go-to-bed-at-noon. It's TRAGOPOGON PRATENSIS, an invasive from Europe, and a member of the Composite or Sunflower Family. Within the Composite Family, Goat's- beard falls into the Chicory Subfamily, along with Chicory and Dandelions. All those plants "bleed" milky sap when injured, produce substantial taproots, and Dandelion-like "puffball" fruiting heads.

The name Meadow Salsify is appropriate because garden Salsify is a member of the same genus, Tragopogon. The vegetable Salsify we eat is usually the taproot of Purple Salsify, Tragopogon porrifolius. It tastes a little like slightly sweetened oysters. You can read about and see Garden Salsify at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Salsify.

Books tell us that False Dandelion taproots are edible just like the Purple Salsify's. However, I find the roots of our roadside plants e so small and stringy that I suspect few people would want to bother with them. Probably, though, if our roadside species were grown in a garden, in rich, loose soil and well watered, its taproot would be good eating.

Plenty of medicinal uses are ascribed to the plant, from controlling diabetes to soothing heartburn and bronchitis. More uses are given at the bottom of http://montana.plant-life.org/species/trago_prate.htm.