dandelion
n.n. a common plant with a yellow flower that turns into a white ball of seeds. It is often seen growing in lawns and gardens.
n. a common perennial herb of the genus Taraxacum, characterized by a bright yellow flower head that develops into a spherical seed head.
The children blew on the dandelion to send the seeds flying.
While many people pull dandelions from their lawns, others leave them to grow because the seeds provide food for birds.
The dandelion is a resilient plant that thrives in disturbed soils, often appearing as a pioneer species in areas where the grass has been removed.
From Middle English dentdelyon, from Old French dent de lion (“lion's tooth”), also in Latin dēns leōnis, referring to the jagged shape of the plant's leaves. The term is now rare in French (together with liondent, calque from Germanic), but compare Spanish diente de león, Portuguese dente-de-leão, Italian dente di leone, German Löwenzahn, Norwegian Bokmål løvetann, Welsh dant y llew, all descendants, calques, or loan translations of the Latin term.