De-formed dandelion flower stalks?

Found more than several dandelions this morning with what appear to be 8-12 flower stalks fused together. Could't think why this would happen. Then realized this was all in a part of the lawn where I used one of those new dandelion weeders.

My theory is that those types of weeders don't always get the whole dandelion root (which can be 15-18 inches long-see a post from last year.)

Multiple shoots arise from a severed root. Then because there are so many shoots in a small area, the flower stalks somehow fuse together in an abnormal fashion.
www.hamiltonturfking.ca
Sent on the TELUS Mobility network with BlackBerry