Taraxacum officinale L. (dandelion) is a vigorous weed in Europe with diploid sexual populations in the southern regions and partially overlapping populations of diploid sexuals and triploid or tetraploid apomicts in the central and northern regions.

These European dandelions can be divided into two groups.
The first group reproduces sexually, as do most seed plants.
 This group consists of dandelions that have a diploid set of chromosomes, and are sexually self-incompatible.
 Sexual reproduction involves a reduction of the somatic chromosome number by meiosis followed by a restoration of the somatic chromosome number by fertilization.
 Diploid dandelions have eight pairs of chromosomes, and meiosis is regular with normal pairing of homologous chromosomes at the metaphase I stage of meiosis.

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.
 In contrast to the sexual diploids, the pairing of chromosomes at metaphase I in triploid apomicts is strongly reduced.
 However pairing is still sufficient to allow some recombination between homologous chromosomes.

Taraxacum 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; other common names include, faceclock, pee-a-bed, wet-a-bed, swine's snout, white endive, and wild endive.

Carl Linnaeus named the species Leontodon taraxacum in 1753.
The current genus name Taraxacum derives possibly from the Arabic Tharakhchakon, or from the Greek Tarraxos.
The common name dandelion comes from the French dent de lion, or "lion's tooth", in reference to the plant's jagged-edged leaves.
Taraxacum officinale L. (dandelion) is a vigorous weed in Europe with diploid sexual populations in the southern regions and partially overlapping populations of diploid sexuals and triploid or tetraploid apomicts in the central and northern regions.
These European dandelions can be divided into two groups. The first group reproduces sexually, as do most seed plants.  This group consists of dandelions that have a diploid set of chromosomes, and are sexually self-incompatible.  Sexual reproduction involves a reduction of the somatic chromosome number by meiosis followed by a restoration of the somatic chromosome number by fertilization.  Diploid dandelions have eight pairs of chromosomes, and meiosis is regular with normal pairing of homologous chromosomes at the metaphase I stage of meiosis.
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.  In contrast to the sexual diploids, the pairing of chromosomes at metaphase I in triploid apomicts is strongly reduced.  However pairing is still sufficient to allow some recombination between homologous chromosomes.
Taraxacum 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; other common names include, faceclock, pee-a-bed, wet-a-bed, swine's snout, white endive, and wild endive.
Carl Linnaeus named the species Leontodon taraxacum in 1753. The current genus name Taraxacum derives possibly from the Arabic Tharakhchakon, or from the Greek Tarraxos. The common name dandelion comes from the French dent de lion, or "lion's tooth", in reference to the plant's jagged-edged leaves.
Taraxacum officinale