

The dandelion had grown from a seed that got stuck in the girl's ear. Image Credit: sxc.hu

Doctors in China have successfully removed a dandelion found growing in the ear of a 16-month-old girl.

Ranran's parents had taken her to see a doctor because she kept scratching her ear, but when the physician took a closer look he found something altogether unexpected - a dandelion that had someone managed to grow to two centimeters in length.The bane of gardeners everywhere, dandelions are widely considered to be a weed with white cotton-like seeds that blow easily in the wind and can end up anywhere. In Ranran's case, her parents had noticed something like a dandelion seed falling in to her ear a couple of months beforehand but hadn't thought anything of it until she started to scratch it all the time."The dandelion had totally grown into Ranran's ear and filled her ear canal wall," said Dr. Gu Qinglong. "Even the slightest bit of pressure put her at risk for internal bleeding so it had to come out."The procedure to remove it took just ten minutes and Ranran is now recovering in hospital.