Dandelion

Little parachutes that fly when you blow

The dandelion is every child's favourite flower: the yellow flower turns into a white 'ball', and when you blow, hundreds of parachutes fly away! Under each parachute is a seed that can travel 10 km. Dandelions grow even in cracks in the pavement. The leaves make salad, the flowers make jam. The yellow flower opens in the morning and closes at night.

The dandelion (Taraxacum officinale) of the aster family is native to Eurasia and now grows on every continent but Antarctica. The 'flower' is a head of 150–200 tiny florets; seeds form by apomixis (without fertilisation), so every plant is a clone of its mother. The parachute (pappus) is a 'ring' of 100 bristles; air flowing over it forms a stable vortex (a new mode of flight discovered in 2018), carrying a seed over 1 km, or up to 100 km in wind. Its 1 m root resists drought; the leaves are rich in vitamin C and iron (the name comes from French 'dent de lion' — lion's tooth, for the leaf shape). The root makes a coffee substitute, the latex makes rubber (Kazakh dandelion in World War II). It is the first spring food for bees.

Fun facts

• A dandelion seed can fly 100 km in the wind.
• The English name comes from the French for 'lion's tooth', for the leaf shape.
• Rubber was made from dandelion sap during the war.