Dandelion Seed Pods

Supposedly the yellow petals of the dandelion's flower is connected to the seeds and eventually turns into what you see below; a pod of hundreds of seeds with wind sails to carry them to new places spreading their joy for miles. The white hairs are actually not the seeds. The seeds are the brown color toward the middle. The white hairs are the wind sails that carry the seeds individually to their new destination. This is why these are so prolific. One pod like this can produce hundreds of new plants and each plant can have 5 or 10 of these pods at any given time.

Here is a seed pod that has already released many of its seeds. The seeds are more visible now that some of the other seeds have launched.

An individual seed. When the wind hits the pod at the release time and hundreds of seeds become airborne, it makes me feel like I am in a Sci-Fi movie only it's not a movie.

The life cycle of the seed might go something life this:

1. Dandelion seed is planted in soil.
2. Roots grow down.
3. A shoot with leaves grows up.
4. The plant grows green buds.
5. The buds open and become yellow flowers.
6. Bees and butterflies visit the flowers.
7. The petals fall off.
8. A circle of seeds forms.
9. The seeds blow away on the wind.

High resolution image of the seed pod.