Blowball

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. A flowering plant characterized by its round and airy seed clusters that are easily distributed by the wind
2. A botanical term for plants that feature spherical, fluffy seed heads adapted for wind dispersal
3. A plant distinguished by its spherical tufts of seeds that detach easily and float on air currents

Etymology: Blowball is a plain compound: "blow," in the sense of a flower or seed head in full bloom or puffed out, joined to "ball," the round shape of the seed cluster. The name describes the plant's appearance and its habit of scattering seeds when the wind or a breath catches the fluffy head. The word is most often applied to the dandelion, whose spherical clock of pappus-tufted seeds gives it its familiar common name. The "blow" element is the older and more interesting part. In English it has long been used of flowers that have opened fully, so a "blow" is a bloom at its peak, and that sense sits behind the compound: the ball is the stage after the petals have gone and the seeds are ready to fly. Speakers of the plant name were naming a moment in its life cycle as much as its shape.