W&N watercolour on Bockingford 300gsm
Taraxacum officinale, the common dandelion (often simply called
“dandelion”), is a flowering herbaceous perennial plant of the family
Asteraceae.
It can be found growing in temperate regions of the world, in lawns,
on roadsides, on disturbed banks and shores of water ways, and other
areas with moist soils. T. officinale is considered a weed, especially
in lawns and along roadsides, but it is sometimes used as a medical herb
and in food preparation. Common dandelion is well known for its yellow
flower heads that turn into round balls of silver tufted fruits that
disperse in the wind called “blowballs” or “clocks” (in both British and
American English).
During summer, when the Dandelions are in full flower, I mostly halt
mowing the lawn, enjoying the spectacle of yellow flowers and then the
beautiful blow-balls. And, like a child, I often pick them and blow them
into the wind, revelling in the little umbrellas as they take off to
start a new generation of Dandelions.
Dandelions are a Eurasian species now entrenched almost world-wide
because of their excellent seed dispersal mechanism and ease of
germination. Their crowded head of ray flowers produces numerous seeds,
their low, wide basal leaves crowd-out competing plants, and thus the
plant is often found in huge colonies.
ITEM ID : DandelionBotanical
