On warm spring and summer afternoons, children often enjoy blowing the ripe, tufted fruits of dandelions into the breeze and watching them lazily drift away. Each tuft carries a single seed, which may be deposited at great distances away, much to the chagrin of gardeners throughout the temperate regions the common weeds inhabit. The tufts of the dandelion fruit, known as pappi, act similar to tiny parachutes that keep the seeds aloft on air currents. In wind as mild as two miles per hour pappi can remain airborne, and under very windy conditions they may travel hundreds of miles before they eventually strike a surface and the seed they hold is released. View a larger version of this digital image. |
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