Dandelion

I drew the dandelion for its seed head, the clock, because that is where the plant becomes itself most completely. The yellow flower is cheerful and easy to overlook. The clock is a piece of engineering: every seed hangs from a feathered parachute, and the parachutes together form a sphere. A child picks it up and blows, and the sphere dissolves into a hundred separate flights. In this dandelion print the clock and the flower share one plate.

In shortTaraxacum officinale is a perennial of the daisy family, native to Europe and Asia and now found on every inhabited continent. Its seeds travel on feathered parachutes. The plate shows an open yellow flower, unopened buds and a white seed head.

Key Facts

How does a dandelion seed head work?

A dandelion seed head works as a ball of parachutes. Each seed hangs from a pappus, a ring of finely branched filaments that catches air and carries one seed as far as the wind allows.

Many of these parachutes sit together in a single sphere. Once the head dries, the seeds loosen, and a breath or a gust sets them off. The structure is why the seeds can travel so far from the parent. The silver, tufted heads, known as dandelion clocks, are carried by the wind, and each flight is a separate journey for one seed. A child blowing on the head only repeats what the weather does all summer.

Is a dandelion one flower or many?

A dandelion head is many flowers, not one. What looks like a single bloom is a tight cluster of small florets, which is the pattern of the whole daisy family. In the dandelion every floret is a ray floret, with one strap-shaped yellow petal, and there are no separate disc florets in the middle.

The heads open in the day and close at night. Each floret can produce one seed, so the flower head turns into the clock when it has finished. The same structure explains why the yellow is so dense: it is many small flowers acting as one.

Does a dandelion need pollination to set seed?

Often it does not. Many dandelions form seed directly from female tissue, without fertilisation, a process called apomixis. The seedlings are then genetically identical to the parent, which helps explain the plant’s extraordinary success.

Insects still visit the flowers. Honey bees are the main pollinators, with bumblebees playing a smaller part, and the plant offers pollen and nectar early in the season, when little else is open. Even dandelions that seed without pollen keep their showy flowers, because pollen is still needed to pass on the apomixis trait.

Where does the dandelion come from, and why is it everywhere?

The dandelion is native to Europe and Asia, and it is now naturalised on every inhabited continent. European settlers carried it to North America on purpose, as a food and medicine plant. It grows in lawns, fields, roadsides and waste ground.

Its success comes from a short list of traits. The leaves form a rosette of long, jagged blades over a deep taproot, so the plant survives drought and regrows after cutting. On mown lawns the rosette stays low and the flowers open on short stems, out of reach of the blade. The seeds travel on the wind and often arrive without needing a partner. The English name comes from the French dent de lion, lion’s tooth, a reference to the toothed lobes of the leaves.

Can you eat dandelion?

Yes. The leaves, flowers and roots of the dandelion have all been used as food. Young leaves are eaten raw in salads or cooked, and they taste slightly bitter, and older leaves are more so. The flowers have been made into wine and tea, and the roasted root into a coffee substitute.

For centuries it was a common salad plant across Europe. Today it is often treated as a weed, and the Royal Horticultural Society notes that it can be unwelcome on gravel paths and fine lawns while being valued in wildlife gardens. The plant is a food and a pollinator’s resource at the same time, which is the argument for drawing it carefully.

Drawing the dandelion

The plate shows an open yellow flower, unopened buds and a white seed head on a light ground. The three stages sit together: the buds before the flower opens, the flower in its short yellow season, and the clock that follows it.

I gave the seed head the most attention, because its structure is the most intricate part of the plant. White and grey filaments against a pale background are fine enough to look almost impossibly precise, so they need space around them. The yellow flower is drawn as a single dense head of ray florets.

On a living plant these stages arrive days apart, so a photograph rarely holds them together. The hand-drawn digital illustration does, which turns one plate into a short account of the dandelion’s life.

Where does a dandelion print work on a wall?

The white and grey of the seed head sit lightly against a pale wall, so the plate suits a study, a kitchen, a child’s room or a cottage-style interior. A thin dark frame gives crisp contrast, and a pale wood frame is warmer and more natural. It belongs to The Garden collection, among the wild and garden flowers of the complete collection. In the photograph below, the framed plate hangs on a light wall above a wooden cabinet, with a floor lamp and potted plants beside it. More botanical wall art is gathered in the botanical art prints section.

Fine-art print →

Frequently Asked Questions

What is a dandelion clock?

A dandelion clock is the round, white seed head that follows the yellow flower. It is a sphere of feathered parachutes, each carrying one seed. Children blow on it to scatter the seeds and make a wish.

How tall is a dandelion?

A dandelion plant is small, usually 10 to 50 cm tall and as wide. Its basal leaves are about 5 to 25 cm long. The flower stalks rise above the leaf rosette and carry a single head each.

Why is it called a dandelion?

The name is an English form of the French dent de lion, meaning lion’s tooth. It refers to the deeply toothed lobes of the leaves, which resemble a row of teeth. The species name officinale points to the plant’s long use as a household remedy and food.

Is the dandelion a weed or a wildflower?

It is both, depending on where it grows. On a fine lawn it is unwelcome, but it supplies pollen, nectar and seed over a long season and is valued in wildlife gardens. The plate treats it as a wildflower worth looking at closely.

How is this print made, and how does it reach me?

There are two formats. The digital download is a high-resolution file that you print yourself, at home or at a print shop; no physical item is shipped. The fine-art print is printed to order on archival paper or canvas, framed or unframed, in sizes from small prints to over 150 cm (60 inches), and delivered to your door.