Today’s Treasures – Dandelions
The Latin name Taraxacum Officinale is derived from the Persian talkh chakok meaning ‘bitter herb’ and Officinale from the Latin officina meaning ‘workshop’ because the plant was used by old herbalists. The common name ‘Dandelion’ comes from the French dent-de-lion (lion’s tooth) because of the shape of the leaves.
Dandelion is first mentioned by the Arabian physicians of the 10th century and in the 13th century it appears in the Welsh Herbal of the Physicians of Mydrai. But it wasn’t until the 20th century that it was discovered that the main reason the humble dandelion was so effective against ailments like scurvy was because of its high vitamin C content. In fact, dandelions are more nutritious than many other vegetables – they have more vitamin A than spinach, more vitamin C than tomatoes, and also contain iron, calcium and potassium.
Dandelion tea has long been used to help the liver remove toxins from the bloodstream. It’s a gentle diuretic providing nutrients that help the digestive system function at peak efficiency – and a cup of dandelion tea is the perfect natural hangover remedy!
The leaves can be added to salads or cooked like spinach and the roots can be dried and ground to make a caffeine-free coffee substitute. The flowers make a delicate white wine.
Contrary to popular belief, dandelions are actually good for a lawn – their deep, wide-spreading roots loosen hard-packed soil, aerate the earth and help reduce erosion. They fertilise the grass by absorbing nutrients from deep in the soil through a tap-root, making them available to other plants.
The seedheads – dandelion clocks – have provided children with many hours of fun blowing the seeds away to tell the time – and counting ‘he loves me, he loves me not’.
Cicely Mary Barker writes:
Here’s the Dandelion’s rhyme:
See my leaves with tooth-like edges;
Blow my clocks to tell the time;
See me flaunting by the hedges,
In the meadow, in the lane,
Gay and naughty in the garden;
Pull me up—I grow again,
Asking neither leave nor pardon.
Sillies, what are you about
With your spades and hoes of iron?
You can never drive me out—
Me, the dauntless Dandelion!
Published in the May edition of the Whitchurch Gossip
#dandelions