In Praise of Dandilions

Gerard's Herball 1633

The ubiquitous dandilion

Taraxacum officinale

is found throughout the northern hemisphere, and is surely in its glory here in eastern Pennsylvania this week.  The golden flowers, at first so proudly held aloft, and now sneakily stretching low amongst the leaves, have given way to a blanket of silver orbs, a thousand thousand wishes waiting to be set adrift.  They love compaction, and can be found where footsteps or mower or car tracks have ground the once-flying seeds into the dirt.

 A deep taproot then goes to work -- straight down into the deep subsoil. bringing up an assortment of vitamins and minerals, thickening root and flesh bitter leaves, slippery stalks (used by first nations' people for beestings: a european plant for an imported insect sting) and familliar sunburst flowers -- all parts are used, but for the elusive and far-travelling seeds: the roots for tea and as a roasted coffee substitute, the leaves as delicious bitter green, digestive tonic, (one of the roots in Rootbeer), stewed with garlic and olive oil, the flowers are gathered in great quantities for dandilion wine, and for a yellow dandilion liqueur that ages well.


The virtues of dandilion are so extensive that Maude Grieve's The Modern Herbal (sic 1933) devoted 11 full columns to it, including the observation that "By careful watching, it has been ascertained that no less than 93 different kinds of insects are in the habit of frequenting it."

I rarely take the time for such prolonged admiration, and my attentions mostly focus on harvesting them in the guise of eliminating them from the garden.  In the last couple weeks, I have been ruthless.  My reward is two trays of dandilion roots, chopped fresh and allowed to dry on papertowels in the kitchen, or on screen racks in the barn.  They are joined by a few weedy compatriots: yellow dock and curley dock roots are reputed to be almost 40% iron at this time of year... good blood-building material.

Yellow dock is another european native, naturalized into american fields now,
 and with a deep group of taproots.

Clusters of dock roots await thee chopping block.

Dandilion roots and yellow dock roots must be chopped or sliced fresh.
Once they have dried, they are leathery and tough to cut.  

Althea officinalis


 Marshmallow Roots
are almost impossible to chop, even fresh.  Their mucilaginous qualities, and heavily-cored roots yield best to a pair of small sharp scissors.

All these plants bring up gifts from the deep with their strong tap-roots.

Yes, this plant is the original source of the confection by this name -- undergoing somewhat of a resurgence lately.  Most modern marshmallows don't contain the root powder of althea, but if you want to experiment.... take a look at this great blog:

http://lostpastremembered.blogspot.com/2009/12/hot-chocolate-with-real-marshmallow.html


Dandilions contain Vitamins A,  B vitamins, potassium and copious amount of vitamin C.  They are a diuretic that replaces potassium, and is called "Pis -en-lit" by the French -- or Pee in the Bed!  It is a tonic and general stimulant to the system as a whole, and tonic especially to the liver.

Preliminary supports for hops vines make a good hat-rack

Motherwort in the foreground,
with chive blossoms and the large leaves of elecampane  behind.