Dandelion
Botanical Name: Taraxacum officinale
Family: Asteraceae (Compositae)
Other Names: Blowball, bum-pie, burning fire,
clocks and watches, devil's milk, golden suns, gowan, Leontodon taracacum, lion's
teeth, piss in the bed, priest’s crown, puffball, taraxacum dens-leonis. time
flower, twelve o'clock, wishes, witch gowan
Habitat: Lawns, waste ground, meadows
Description: Hardy hairless perennial herb. Up
to 30cm/1ft hollow stems exudes a milk juice when cut Tap root. Leaves-lanced
shaped, roughly toothed growing from base of plant in a spiral basal rosette
Flowers-large, yellow, numerous petals2.5-6.5cm March-November followed by fluffy
seed heads
Native to: Worldwide
Parts Used: Root, leaf
Harvesting: Leaves early spring for eating. Older
leaves for drinks anytime for medicinal purposes. Roots Spring/autumn for coffee
and June-August for medicinal purposes.
Actions: Anti-rheumatic, appetizer, cholagogue,
diuretic, expectorant, laxative, tonic
Constituent: Choline, potassium
Sesquiterpene lactones –taraxacoside, taraxinic acid, dihdrotaraxinic
acid, taraxacolide glycosides. Polyphenolic caffeoyltatartaric acids. Courmarins.
Triterpenes – taraxol, taraxerol, taraxasterol, beta amyrin, stigmasterol, beta
sitosterol. Vitamin A
Inulin, bitter principle
Combines with: Barberry, balmony, couchgrass,
and yarrow
Culinary Uses: Leaves: Sauces, cooked, coffee,
and sandwiches
Circulatory muscle joint: Rheumatism, arthritis
Genito-Urinary: Kidneys, water retention, and
liver
Nervous System: Depression, anxiety, self worth
Root Energetics: Smell: summer
meadow, childlike
Other Notes: The name come from
the French dent de lion meaning lion’s tooth which refers to the leaves, although
it is also said it is because the lion is symbolic of the sun as is the dandelion
Children to tell the time blew the seeds, but it is said if all the seeds are blown away the child will be rejected by its mother
If the wind blows the seeds it is said it
is going to rain
If a girl blows the seeds heads the number
of blows it takes to disperse all the seeds is said to indicate the number of
years until she marries
To dream of a dandelion is said to indicate
difficult times ahead
Traditionally dandelions were collected
Midsummer’s eve when they are said to have the power to ward of evil spirits
The name Taraxacum comes from the Greek
taraxos meaning disorder and akos meaning remedy
Each individual seed on a head has it’s
own form of parachute in order to help it be carried along the wind to somewhere
where it can grow
Taraxacum is derived from the Greek
meaning “to disturb or alter the state of something”
The first recorded use of it is by the
Arab herbalist Avicenna in the 10th century
It is said to be under the influence of Jupiter
It is said its petals open at 5am and close at 8pm
There is an old legend that in ancient times when the earth
was first populated by elemental spirits such as fairies, gnomes and elves.
Then men came and wrecked havoc on the earth and the elemental spirits hid in
the trees, the earth etc. However the sun loving fairies wearing yellow garments
stood sadly staring at the sun until they were metamorphosed into dandelions.
In Scotland it in known as gowan which means gold (Gowan is
a name given to many yellow flowers)