Big beautiful pats of margarine (butter isn't that yellow) sitting on tiny green stems that add a glow to almost every lawn and under trees across the land.
The name comes from the appearance of their leaves which look a bit like the teeth of lions (dent de lion).
As a kid, I remember putting the bright flower under the chins of friends to determine whether or not they liked butter. If you could see yellow, it meant they did. However, since no where on the world wide web can I find anybody from anywhere writing this... perhaps I don't recall correctly. I do know I put lots of dandelion flowers under the chins of friends. (Maybe it's a way to tell who your friends are - that they are willing to allow you to put a flower under their chin.)
They are also great gifts to moms and teachers and for a day would look very nice in a small drinking glass of water.
Once their flower dries up and leaves the globe of seeds behind, they can still be pretty... but fewer people think so. I think there's something quite incredible about the fortitude of the ubiquitous flower - it can handle heat, cold, and drought and can grow nearly anywhere.
I often asked my Dad why some grass seed company couldn't produce grass seed with the staying power and strength of dandelions? I imagine Scott's will figure that out someday and our lawns will survive anything.
In searching for information about dandelions (and there is a lot out there) one thing that caught my eye is that it is the only flower to represent three celestial bodies: the flower represents the sun; the puff ball of seeds looks like the moon; and that ball of seeds you blow away to figure out if someone loves you or not? Those seeds as they fly away resemble stars. A much more romantic view of the under-appreciated flower.
If they had a better public relations firm, they wouldn't be called weeds now, would they?
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