rik-rat corn pile

Wednesday, May 1, 2013

Mutant Dandelion!

I was walking the dog through a field of dandelions and found this gigantic mutant amongst the others.  This dandelion has three flower heads!  Insane.  I likened it to a four leaf clover, a strange mutation but nothing too "out there".

When I got home I put the dandelion in the fridge and did some Google-investigations. I found out that the proper term for this kind of growth is "fasciation" or "cresting".  The growth is caused by a mutation in the meristematic cells, by insect or mite attack, or by chemical or mechanical damage (that sentence was stolen from this web address http://www.bloginfrance.com/2012/the-attack-of-the-mutant-dandelions/). 


3 comments:

  1. also, there are several different varieties of "dandelions"..possibly this isn't a true dandelion.
    http://scnps.org/wp-content/uploads/2012/03/SCNPS_Winter_2012.pdf
    check out page 8

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  2. damn, Tom. You just blew my mind. I had no idea there were varieties of dandelions. That's nature for you.

    Maybe it was a hairy dandelion. The stem had a lot of peach fuzz on it. I have it in a book now, I'm gonna press the shit out of this dandelion and them frame it in the future.

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    Replies
    1. I found another one yesterday. Perhaps they're completely freaking common.

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