Flower:

Flower clusters are open and branching, appearing as single flowers at branch tips and upper leaf axils, often few opened at any given time. The flower heads are yellow, long stalked, ¼ to 1/3 inch across, the center disk bright yellow surrounded by 11 to 20 ray flowers (petals). The barrel-shaped base cupping the flower head is formed from 13 to 21 linear bracts (phyllaries), green with obscurely reddish tips, the surfaces densely glandular hairy. Flowers develop continuously over the season, a plant typically displaying a mix of new flowers, mature and spent seedheads.

Leaves and stems:

Leaves are simple and alternate, oblong or nearly spatulate in outline, 1 to 4½ inches long, 1/3 to 2 inches wide, deeply pinnately lobed, the primary lobes shallowly lobed or with large, coarse teeth. Lower leaves are largest and stalked, becoming smaller and stalkless as they ascend the stem. Stems are heavily branched especially in the upper plant. Leaves and stems are densely glandular hairy throughout, sticky and strongly scented. 

Fruit:

Flowers become a dandelion-like plume of dark brown seeds (achenes), each with a tuft of white hairs (pappus) to carry it off in the wind.

Notes:

Sticky Ragwort is a newcomer to Minnesota, first collected in 1994 near Duluth. Like too many non-natives introduced through that port, it thrives in the cool, rocky and sandy but moist soils along Lake Superior's north shore, and with a wind disseminated seed, has spread rapidly up the shore to Cook County. Also like other introductions, it can be expected to make its way both inland along roads in the Arrowhead and south towards the metro over the near coming years. It is similar to another weedy introduction, Common Groundsel (Senecio vulgaris), which has rayless flowers with longer phyllaries, and is not glandular.