Taraxacum officinale, the dandelion or common dandelion, is a herbaceous perennial flowering plant in the daisy family Asteraceae. The common dandelion is well known for its yellow flower heads that turn into round balls of many silver-tufted fruits that disperse in the wind. These balls are called "clocks" in both British and American English. The name "blowball" is also used.
Taraxacum officinale
Dandelion clocks showing among the grass
Saint-Prosper-de-Champlain, Quebec, Canada
Dandelion in Toško Čelo, Slovenia
The family Asteraceae, with the original name Compositae, consists of over 32,000 known species of flowering plants in over 1,900 genera within the order Asterales. Commonly referred to as the aster, daisy, composite, or sunflower family, Compositae were first described in the year 1740. The number of species in Asteraceae is rivaled only by the Orchidaceae, and which is the larger family is unclear as the quantity of extant species in each family is unknown.
Asteraceae
A typical Asteraceae flower head showing the (five) individual ray florets and the (approximately 16) disk florets of a specimen of (Bidens torta)
Discoid flowerheads of Delairea odorata.
Anemochory in Carlina