The common dandelion is well known for its yellow flower heads that turn into round balls of many silver-tufted fruits that disperse in the wind.

They are very hardy plants, able to grow in a variety of environments, and are tolerant of crowding, extremes of temperature, and low moisture.

[12] As a result of this hardiness, in addition to its ability to rapidly propagate itself, the dandelion has become established over a wide range via human activity, originally being native to Eurasia, but can also be found across the Americas, southern Africa, India, Australia and New Zealand as a result of incidental or deliberate introductions.

It is most often considered a weed, especially in lawns and along roadsides, but the leaves, flowers, and roots are sometimes used as food and in herbal medicine.

The stems can be tinted purplish, they are upright or lax, and produce flower heads that are held as tall or taller than the foliage.

The fruits, called cypselae,[16] range in color from olive-green or olive-brown to straw-colored to grayish, they are oblanceoloid in shape and 2–3 mm (1⁄16–1⁄8 in) long with slender beaks.

[18] Rudenskaya et al. (1998) found that taraxalisin hydrolyzes a chromogenic peptide substrate Glp-Ala-Ala-Leu-pNA optimally at pH 8.0.

[19] Maximal activity of the proteinase in the roots is attained in April, at the beginning of plant development after the winter period.

[20] The specific name officinalis refers to its value as a medicinal herb, and is derived from the word opificina, later officina, meaning a workshop or pharmacy.

[26] The plants introduced to North America, originally as a food crop, are triploids that mainly reproduce by obligate gametophytic apomixis[17][27] Though sexual dandelion plants are known in North America, almost all are clones that produce genetically identical seeds through apomixis.

[35] The second group consists of polyploid (mostly triploid) apomicts, meaning that both a viable embryo as well as a functional endosperm is formed without prior fertilization.

[37] T. officinale has many English common names (some of which are no longer in use), including blowball, lion's-tooth, cankerwort, milk-witch, yellow-gowan, Irish daisy, monks-head, priest's-crown and puff-ball;[38] other common names include, faceclock, pee-a-bed, wet-a-bed,[39] swine's snout,[40] white endive, and wild endive.

[34] The plant grows in temperate regions of the world in lawns, on roadsides, disturbed banks, shores of waterways, and other areas with moist soils.

[54] Honey bees have not been shown to lower their pollination activity on nearby fruit crops when foraging on dandelions.

[57] Dandelion thrives in conditions of elevated carbon dioxide, growing to a higher biomass and producing a larger number of viable seeds.

The leaves (called dandelion greens) can be eaten cooked or raw in various forms, such as in soup or salad.

[63] Most of these are more accurately described as "dandelion-flavored wine," as some other sort of fermented juice or extract serves as the main ingredient.

[64] It has also been used in a saison ale called Pissenlit (the French word for dandelion, literally meaning "wet the bed") made by Brasserie Fantôme in Belgium.

In Silesia and other parts of Poland and the world, dandelion flowers are used to make a honey substitute syrup with added lemon (so-called May-honey).

[69] Because of its worldwide distribution, familiarity, and presence in a wide variety of folkloric traditions, the dandelion has been highlighted as a valuable tool for educators seeking to help children of varying cultural and ethnic backgrounds connect to science through ethnobotany.

A Native American folktale tells the story of a golden haired girl who attracted the fancy of the South Wind.

The South Wind was too lazy to pursue her, until one day he realized she had grown old and her hair had turned white.