Family Perennial Dandelion is one of the most common weeds many of us encounter. They infest many different habitats, including probably your lawn at home. They are common in waste areas and in pastures. Dandelion do not thrive as well in fields that are tilled every year. This is due to the fact they thrive best when allowed to develop into perennials with large perennating taproots.
Dandelions reproduce in two ways.
The dandelion seeds below were snatched out of a pasture in southern Ontario, Canada. Notice the brown seed with the long stalk ending in the tuft of hairs at the end. The tuft of hairs and slender stalk allow it to float on the wind. This wind-blown dispersal and spread mechanism is the reason some neighbors get angry when the seed from one blows over into the yard of the other. We all have different weed management expectations.