Sorry for my delayed response - had to collect two our pigs for freezing, so have been 'bagging-up' for the past couple of hours!
'Dandelion' is the best I could think of, but why should male be 'lion'? And 'sweet william' is the answer to another clue ('A dessert for Bill'). They are mostly not difficult cryptic clues!
A lion is male as opposed to a lioness - note they don't say man, so the animal route is fine. But still not the best clue. The word foppish can really only denote dandy or beau - weak guesses like Sweet William are just wasting everyone's time.
It wasnt you Crockshard that said
"weak guesses like Sweet William are just wasting everyone's time"
It was quizmonkey. I wasnt very happy, but I think I will get over it!
Thank you boxtops. I went to Tesco yesterday lunchtime and they had Sweet William on special offer near the entrance, so it inspired me to come back and suggest it. The nice thing about Answerbank is that sometimes you can put really silly things and nobody criticises - usually ...........