When you start looking into the top tonic plants the world has known, you realize that these same plants are surrounded with myth and legend. Their recommendation is a serious one. The absence of light blanches the leaves to a white yellow, reducing the bitter contents to the point the plant is a little more pleasant to eat. Its scientific name is Taraxacum, a large genus of flowering plants in the family Asteraceae. Shopping Tips When purchasing dandelion tincture make certain the labeling states dandelion root. For example, Rothmaler's flora of Germany recognizes roughly 70 microspecies. Travel a few miles in the other direction, to San Ildefonso Pueblo, and we find the mothers of the villages grinding the leaves of the dandelion and applying the paste to broken bones, wrapping the wound with bandages encrusted with the fresh leaves. albidum, Taraxacum albidum f. albidum, Taraxacum albiflorum, Taraxacum officinale var. Other plants with superficially similar flowers include hawkweeds (Hieracium) and hawksbeards (Crepis). Let’s see what he has down in the chapter on dandelions. Therefore, one of the nicknames for this plant is Lions Tooth. By the time we arrive in Britain , it’s been around for awhile. Common Names . He says that that year the demand for extract of dandelion was far greater than any other herb, totaling 3700 pounds. However, the leaves of dandelions are smooth or glabrous, whereas those of catsears are coarsely hairy. Al Razi around 900 (A.D.) wrote "the tarashaquq is like chicory". If the liver was acting up, manifested by jaundice or yellowing of the skin, dandelion was immediately administered. Let’s jump a flight and make our next stop, the center of the soon to be British empire, its not an empire yet, but it’s on the way. A dandelion is a flower. Add yeast and sweeten it.”. History and Traditional Uses Its tiny, parachute-tufted seeds have helped dandelion blow itself to the four corners of the globe, and wherever it lands, people usually make it into vitality tonics. To Russia , and North and South America they flew. The notion of purifying blood with the dandelions springs from an old medical notion of feeling but not knowing. [6], The species of Taraxacum are tap-rooted, perennial, herbaceous plants, native to temperate areas of the Northern Hemisphere. With regular use people make more regular visits to the toilet. A commonly held belief is that the dandelion captures and holds the power of the sun. [33], T. officinale can serve as an indicator plant for soil potassium and calcium, as the plant favours soils deficient in the latter but rich in the former. The dandelion is an extraordinary plant. The Welsh (dant-y-llew), German (Löwenzahn), Norwegian (løvetann), Portuguese (dente de leão) and Spanish (diente de león) names mean the same as the French and the English names. Gibbons, E. Stalking the Wild Asparagus. In fact, Most of your neighbors will be more than happy to share their bounty of the not so ornamental blooms around the yard. Gledhill, David (2008). Taraxacum officinale, the common dandelion[4] (often simply called "dandelion"), is a flowering herbaceous perennial plant of the family Asteraceae (Compositae). Even though dandelion pollen is of poor nutritional quality for honey bees, they readily consume it, and it can be an important source of nutritional diversity in heavily managed monocultures such as that of blueberries. The seeds are able to cover large distances when dispersed due to the unique morphology of the pappus which works to create a unique type of vortex ring[13][14] that stays attached to the seed rather than being sent downstream. By the by, if we had time we would skip over to Ireland , and find that they use the plant for the same things, health and liver function. They felt that one had to eat dandelions on Green Thursday or Maundy Thursday as it was called, to ensure good health through the coming year. It has been in use medicinally since the 10th century. [39] A 100 gram (​3 1⁄2oz) reference amount supplies 45 calories. The Mennonites believed killing was against God’s orders, and refused the draft in Prussia , for which they were shown the door. In Crete, the leaves of a variety called 'Mari' (Μαρί), 'Mariaki' (Μαριάκι), or 'Koproradiko' (Κοπροράδικο) are eaten by locals, either raw or boiled, in salads. inhibitory activity against Mycobacterium tuberculosis, ECHO virus, and Leptospira. [38] In Finnish and Estonian, the names (voikukka, võilill) translate as butter flower, due to the color of the flower. It has an in vitro bactericidal effect against Streptococcus pneumoniae, Pseudomonas aeruginosa, Shigella spp., Neisseria meningitidis, Corynebacterium diphtheriae.