We call it the giant dandelion because it looks like a dandelion and flies like a dandelion, only bigger. I never made the effort to discover exactly which plant it is, but surely they are related. I managed to make this size comparison so you can step straight into the story of the giant dandelion and its peculiar charm.
Because it is enlarged, as though somebody hit zoom, details become visible that are much harder to notice on an ordinary dandelion. Every “parachute” is bigger too, so the anatomy is beautifully clear. Looking into the centre of the construction completely delighted me. You can see that the sphere is hollow inside, while its filaments make lace that creates the illusion of a round body. There is no ball at all, only countless tiny umbrellas arranged perfectly to form the whole flower.
The flower has a stalk — or whatever one calls the bit the parachutes attach to — very much like a dandelion’s. Same principle, it seems.
Naturally, when Nikola spots a giant dandelion, it is doomed. He crushes it, blows it apart, bursts it, does whatever he can… It took me a while to find one or two examples for the journal that had not already been blown to bits. True to form, they too were thoroughly de-dandelioned immediately after the photo shoot.
In any case, I think their season is ending now. They are very dry, fibrous, and brown. Perhaps it is better to free them from their stems and help send the parachutes into the wind, into freedom, toward new chances and the next chapters waiting for every little flyer.
