Dandelion Seed Head Close-Up , Blue Sky, USA

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The flower heads mature into spherical seed heads called "blowballs"[5] or "clocks" (in both British and American English) containing many single-seeded fruits called achenes. Each achene is attached to a pappus of fine hairs, which enable wind-aided dispersal over long distances. The flower head is surrounded by bracts (sometimes mistakenly called sepals) in two series. The inner bracts are erect until the seeds mature, then flex downward to allow the seeds to disperse; the outer bracts are always reflexed downward. Some species drop the "parachute" from the achenes; the hair-like parachutes are called pappus, and they are modified sepals. Between the pappus and the achene, there is a stalk called a beak, which elongates as the fruit matures. The beak breaks off from the achene quite easily, separating the seed from the parachute.

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Size: 2700px × 3600px
Location: United States
Photo credit: © Patti McConville / Alamy / Afripics
License: Licensed
Model Released: No

Keywords: achenes, america, biannial, blowballs, botany, bracts, clocks, close-, copy, dandelion, fluffy, fragile, green, head, herbaceous, horticulture, morphology, north, outdoor, outdoors, pappus, plant, ring1, ruderals, scape, seed, seed-dispersed, seedhead, shot, space, sphere, spherical, stalk, states, tap-rooted, taraxacum, united, usa, vortex, weed, whitge