Dandelion and Taraxacum officinale.Dandelion extract.
Article Content:
- .Plant Description and Basic Data.
- .Archeology and Name Origin of Dadelion.
- .Dandelion extracts?Phytochemicals of Dandelion.
- .Traditional and Contemporary Use.
- .Medicinal Action and Function of Dandelion.
- .Some particularly important uses of Dandelion.
- .Internally and Externally use of Dandelion.
- .Common uses and application of Dandelion root.
- .Take Method and Dosage of Dandelion related products.
- .Possible Interactions,Side Effects and Precautions of Dandelion.
- .How Search Engine think about Dandelion.
- .Research Update:Dandelion.
Plant Description and Basic Data.
Dandelion Root (Taraxacum officinale)
Latin Name: Taraxacum officinale - A well-known herbal bitter;Herba Taraxaci
Plant species: Taraxacum dens leonis Desr.
Family:Asteraceae (Compositae)
CAS n.: 68990-74-9,273-624-6
Common Names: Blowball,Cankerwort,Canker Wort,Lion's Tooth,Priest's Crown,Swine's Snout,White Endive,Wild Endive;Canker Wort, Irish Daisy, Leotodon taraxacum, Puffball, Taraxacum officinale, Wild Endive
Origin and Habitat: Dandelion is a perennial plant growing almost everywhere. Widely distributed throughout most of the world as a "troublesome weed."
Medicinal Parts Used: The whole plant(roots, leaves, stems, flowers) can be used medicinally. The fresh and dried root, young tops. All parts of the plant contain a somewhat bitter, milky juice (latex), but the juice of the root being still more powerful is the part of the plant most used for medicinal purposes.
Description:Dandelion
Dandelion(Taraxacum) is a native of western Europe where it grows in meadows, fields and fallow land. It originated in Central Asia, but now grows almost anywhere in the world, preferring moist conditions. It has a rosette of characteristic 'lion's tooth' leaves, from the centre of which arises the hollow stem bearing the yellow capitulate flowerhead made up of 200 or more ligulate bisexual florets. These give way to the familiar 'fairy clock'. The long taproot arises from a short rhizome. All the underground parts are covered with a dark brown bark, but are almost white inside and, like the stem, produce a bitter-tasting white milky sap.
When collecting the seeds care should be taken when drying them in the sun, to cover them with coarse muslin, as otherwise the down will carry them away. They are best collected in the evening, towards sunset, or when the damp air has caused the heads to close up.
The tops should be cut on a dry day, when quite free of rain or dew, and all insect-eaten or stained leaves rejected.
From its thick tap root, dark brown, almost black on the outside though white and milky within, the long jagged leaves rise directly, radiating from it to form a rosette Iying close upon the ground, each leaf being grooved and constructed so that all the rain falling on it is conducted straight to the centre of the rosette and thus to the root which is, therefore, always kept well watered. The maximum amount of water is in this manner directed towards the proper region for utilization by the root, which but for this arrangement would not obtain sufficient moisture, the leaves being spread too close to the ground for the water to penetrate.
The leaves are shiny and without hairs, the margin of each leaf cut into great jagged teeth, either upright or pointing somewhat backwards, and these teeth are themselves cut here and there into lesser teeth. It is this somewhat fanciful resemblance to the canine teeth of a lion that (it is generally assumed) gives the plant its most familiar name of Dandelion, which is a corruption of the French Dent de Lion, an equivalent of this name being found not only in its former specific Latin name Dens leonis and in the Greek name for the genus to which Linnaeus assigned it, Leontodon, but also in nearly all the languages of Europe.
Dandelion (Taraxacum officinale) is a common meadow herb of the Asteraceae or sunflower family. There are about 100 species of dandelion, and all are beneficial. This sun-loving beauty is a native of Greece, naturalized in temperate regions throughout the world, and familiar to nearly everyone. The perennial dandelion grows freely wherever it can find a bit of earth and a place in the sun. Dandelion's nutritive and medicinal qualities have been known for centuries.
Dandelion may be distinguished from other similar-looking herbs by the hollow, leafless flower stems that contain a bitter milky-white liquid also found in the root and leaves. The dark green dandelion leaves, with their irregular, deeply jagged margins, have a distinctive hairless mid-rib. The leaves are arranged in a rosette pattern, and may grow to 1.5 ft (45.7 cm) in length. They have alovely magenta tint that extends up along the inner rib of the stalkless leaf. When the plant is used as a dye, it yields this purple hue. Dandelion blossoms are singular and round, with compact golden-yellow petals. They bloom from early spring until well into autumn atop hollow stalks that may reach from 4 to 8 in (10.2ndash;20.3 cm) tall. The golden blossoms yield a pale yellow dye for wool. After flowering, dandelion develops a round cluster of achenes, or seed cases. As many as 200 of these narrow seed cases, each with a single seed, form the characteristic puffball. Each achene is topped with a white, feathery tuft to carry it on the breeze. Dandelion's tap root may grow fat, and reach as deep as 1.5 ft (45.7 cm) in loose soil. The root has numerous hairy rootlets. Dandelion is a hardy herb and will regrow from root parts left in the ground during harvest.
Distribution and cultivation:Dandelion
The Dandelion (Taraxacum officinale, Weber, T. Densleonis, Desf; Leontodon taraxacum, Linn.), though not occurring in the Southern Hemisphere, is at home in all parts of the north temperate zone, in pastures, meadows and on waste ground, and is so plentiful that farmers everywhere find it a troublesome weed, for though its flowers are more conspicuous in the earlier months of the summer, it may be found in bloom, and consequently also prolifically dispersing its seeds, almost throughout the year.
Dandelion (Taraxacum officinale) is native to Greece. Young Dandelion leaves are used as a food in salads or cooked as greens. The root has a long history of use as an herbal remedy, as a food, and in beverages.
Imaginative Sign of Tradition from Dadelion:Some quaint traditions are:
To blow the seeds off a ripened head is to carry your thoughts to a loved one, near or far
To dream of Dandelion was though to bring ill fortune
When a ripened dandelion head falls without the wind's help it is a sign of rain
Origin:Dandelion
Dandelion is a weedy perennial herb of the genus Taraxacum of the family Asteraceae. Native to Eurasia, it is widespreaded throughout much of the temperate regions around the globe. The most familiar species is T. officinale. The Chinese use mainly T. mongolium Hand. Mazz. as the herb, but other plants of the same genus are also used.
Dandelion has a rosette of leaves at the base of the plant; a deep taproot; a smooth, hollow stem; leaves that may be nearly smooth-margined, toothed, or deeply cut; and a solitary yellow flower head composed only of ray flowers (no disk flowers). The fruit is a ball-shaped cluster of many small, tufted, one-seeded fruits. The bitter young leaves are used in salads, and the roots can be used to make a coffee-like beverage.
The herb uses the whole plant with roots. Harvested in summer and autumn, it is washed clean, dried in the sun and used when fresh or when raw.
Reference:
1.Dandelion and Taraxacum officinale.Dandelion extract.
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