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The Dandelion ( genus Taraxacum of the family Asteraceae) is a tap-rooted annual or biennial plant, found in most temperate zones.
1 Distribution and Etymology
Dandelions were originally widely distributed throughout Eurasia, but were introduced to North America and Australia because of their many uses. They have thrived in these new locations. The name dandelion is a corruption of the Old French, dent-de-lion, literally "lion's tooth" on account of the sharply lobed leaves of the plant.
2 Botany
The leaves are simple and basal, entire or lobed, forming a rosette above a central taproot. A bright yellow flower head is borne singly on a hollow "stem" (scape) rising above the leaves and exudes a milky sap ( latexLatex fom a tree, Latex is used in Rubber production. See also LAT&Chi a macro package for the TΧ typesetting system. Latex as found in nature, is the milky sap of many plants that coagulates on exposure to air. It is a complex emulsion in which prote) when broken. A rosette may produce more than one scape at a time. The flower head consists entirely of ray florets and matures into a globe of fine filaments that are usually distributed by wind, carrying away the seed-containing acheneAn achene is a type of simple dry fruit produced by many species of flowering plants. Achenes are monocarpellate (formed from one carpel) and indehiscent (do not open at maturity) and contain a single seed that nearly fills the pericarp (fruit layers), bus. This globe (receptacle) is called the "dandelion clock", and blowing it apart is a popular pastime for children. The plant has a taproot. The flower head is surrounded by bracts (sometimes mistakenly called sepals) in two series. The outer bractIn botany, a bract is a modified or specialized leaf, from the axil of which a flower or flower stalk arises; or a bract may be any leaf associated with an inflorescence. Usually bracts are green and resemble the other leaves. However, some bracts are bris are erect until the flowers wither, then it hangs down, like the outer bracts always do.
Some dandelions are apomicticIn botany, apomixis is biological reproduction without fertilization, meiosis or production of gametes, with the result that the seeds are genetically identical to the parent plant. An apomict or apomictic plant is an organism which chiefly reproduces thi and polyploidy is common. Some varieties drop the "parachute" (called a pappus, modified sepals) from the achenes. Ergo, there are "species" (apomictic and polyploid races) that grow only in a single meadow. This is one reason for there being a large number of described dandelion species, especially in Europe where botanists tend to be "splitters". As an example, some botanists list a few hundred species of dandelion from Finland alone. Others are inclined to "lump" these all into Taraxacum officinale.
Between the pappus and the achene, there's an stalk called beak, which elongates as the fruit matures. The beak breaks off from the achene quite easily.
