A large dandelion-like plant which was thought to be nearly extinct in the state may actually be thriving. Scientists have recently uncovered the plant growing locations throughout Western Pennsylvania. Brad Linder has more.

15 years ago, there was only one known Prenanthes Crepidinea (Preh-nan-thiss Krep-id-in-ee-uh) in Pennsylvania. But it seems there may actually be as many as 5-million of the hard-to-find plants in the state

Bonnie Isaac, a botanist from Pittsburgh's Carnegie Museum of Natural History found a group of unusual plants a few years ago, and by studying them closely realized they actually were the elusive Crepidinea.

It comes up in the Spring and will grow for a little bit and then it disappears and you have no evidence that it was ever there. And it'll do that for several years until it has enough energy in its root to decide to bloom. And so people were going out looking for it in like October, when it blooms, when maybe only one tenth of all the plants are actually up at that time.

Once she knew what to look for, Isaac says it became apparent that the Crepidinea aren't really all that rare. The plant looks like an eight foot tall dandelion when it blooms, and it's thriving just a bit off the beaten path.

It grows out on a floodplain in the summer when there's other really tall plants growing there, and it's in among stinging nettle, and poison ivy, and mosquitoes and all kinds of things that you know, people don't really want to go there. So it was just being overlooked.

Isaac says her two years of research have helped removed the plant from Pennsylvania's threatened species list -- which lets botanists focus on plants that really do need special attention. More information's available on the web at GreenWorks.tv. I'm Brad Linder.