HUMBLE DANDELION
USEFUL WEED and a garden pest
Dandelions are especially
well-adapted to a modern world of "disturbed habitats," such as lawns
and sunny, open places. They were even introduced into the Midwest from Europe
to provide food for the imported honeybees in early spring. They now grow
virtually worldwide. Dandelions spread further, are more difficult to
exterminate, and grow under more under adverse circumstances than most
competitors.
Most gardeners detest them, but the
more you try to weed them up, the faster they grow.
The taproot is deep, twisted, and
brittle.
Unless you remove it completely, it
will regenerate.
The dandelion is a perennial, herbaceous plant with long,
lance-shaped leaves. The plant is more
of a weed than a cultivated plant. They're so deeply toothed, they gave the
plant its name in Old French: Dent-de-lion means lion's tooth in Old French.
The
leaves are 3 to 12" long, and 1/2 to 2-1/2" wide, always growing in a
basal rosette.
The rosette is
immature, tightly wrapped leaf bases just above the top of the root form a
tight "crown." As seen in the figure of the plant.
Dandelion leaves are
at their best when they've just emerged.
The dandelion’s
well-known yellow, composite flowers are 1 to 2" wide.
They grow
individually on hollow flower stalks 2 to 18" tall. Each flower head
consists of hundreds of tiny ray flowers. Unlike other composites, there are no
disk flowers. Refluxed bracts grow under each flower.
The flower head can change into the familiar, white,
globular seed head overnight. Each seed has a tiny parachute, to spread far and
wide in the wind.
The
thick, brittle, beige, branching taproot grows up to 10" long. All parts
of this plant exude a white milky sap when broken.
The leaves are more
nutritious than anything you can buy. They're higher in beta-carotene than
carrots. The iron and calcium content is phenomenal, greater than spinach. You
also get vitamins B-1, B-2, B-5, B-6, B-12, C, E, P, and D, biotin, inositol,
potassium, phosphorus, magnesium, and zinc by using a tasty, free vegetable
that grows on virtually every lawn. The root contains the sugar inulin, plus
many medicinal substances.
Dandelion root’s inulin is a sugar that doesn't elicit the rapid production of insulin, as refined sugars do. It helps mature-onset diabetes, and I used it as part of a holistic regime for hypoglycemia (low blood sugar).
Taraxacum is a
large genus of flowering plants in the family Asteraceae and consists of
species commonly known as dandelion.
Scientific name: Taraxacum Rank: Genus
This is a
photograph of the dandelion seeds ready for wind dispersal. Dispersal of seeds
is not a unique to plant kingdom, it is akin to migration of animals. One can't
prosper under the roof of their forefathers, doing the same business. One
has to migrate to greener pastures and perhaps do the same old family business.
People have been successful in the past and now. America, the land of
immigrants has made many a local parents proud of their siblings.
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