''Taraxacum officinale'', the dandelion or common dandelion, is a flowering
herbaceous perennial plant
A perennial plant or simply perennial is a plant that lives more than two years. The term ('' per-'' + '' -ennial'', "through the years") is often used to differentiate a plant from shorter-lived annuals and biennials. The term is also wide ...
of the
dandelion genus in the family
Asteraceae
The family Asteraceae, alternatively Compositae, consists of over 32,000 known species of flowering plants in over 1,900 genera within the order Asterales. Commonly referred to as the aster, daisy, composite, or sunflower family, Compositae w ...
(syn. Compositae). The common dandelion is well known for its yellow
flower heads that turn into round balls of many
silver-tufted fruits that
disperse in the wind. These balls are usually called "clocks" in both British and American English. The name "blowball" is also used.
The common dandelion grows in
temperate regions
In geography, the temperate climates of Earth occur in the middle latitudes (23.5° to 66.5° N/S of Equator), which span between the tropics and the polar regions of Earth. These zones generally have wider temperature ranges throughout t ...
of the world in areas with moist soils. It is most often considered a
weed
A weed is a plant considered undesirable in a particular situation, "a plant in the wrong place", or a plant growing where it is not wanted.Harlan, J. R., & deWet, J. M. (1965). Some thoughts about weeds. ''Economic botany'', ''19''(1), 16-24. ...
, especially in lawns and along roadsides, but the leaves, flowers, and roots are sometimes used in
herbal medicine and as food.
Description
''Taraxacum officinale'' grows from (generally unbranched)
taproot
A taproot is a large, central, and dominant root from which other roots sprout laterally. Typically a taproot is somewhat straight and very thick, is tapering in shape, and grows directly downward. In some plants, such as the carrot, the taproo ...
s and produces several hollow, leafless flower stems
that are typically tall, but sometimes up to tall. The stems can be tinted purplish, they are upright or lax, and produce flower heads that are held as tall or taller than the foliage. The foliage may be upright-growing or horizontally spreading; the leaves have petioles that are either unwinged or narrowly winged. The stems can be
glabrous
Glabrousness (from the Latin '' glaber'' meaning "bald", "hairless", "shaved", "smooth") is the technical term for a lack of hair, down, setae, trichomes or other such covering. A glabrous surface may be a natural characteristic of all or part of ...
or sparsely covered with short hairs. Plants have milky
latex
Latex is an emulsion (stable dispersion) of polymer microparticles in water. Latexes are found in nature, but synthetic latexes are common as well.
In nature, latex is found as a milky fluid found in 10% of all flowering plants (angiosperms ...
and the leaves are all
basal; each flowering stem lacks
bracts and has one single flower head. The yellow flower heads lack receptacle bracts and all the flowers, which are called
floret
This glossary of botanical terms is a list of definitions of terms and concepts relevant to botany and plants in general. Terms of plant morphology are included here as well as at the more specific Glossary of plant morphology and Glossary o ...
s, are ligulate and bisexual. In many lineages, fruits are mostly produced by
apomixis,
notwithstanding the flowers are visited by many types of insects.
The leaves are long and wide, and are oblanceolate, oblong, or obovate in shape, with the bases gradually narrowing to the petiole. The leaf margins are typically shallowly lobed to deeply lobed and often lacerate or toothed with sharp or dull teeth.
The calyculi (the cuplike bracts that hold the florets) are composed of 12 to 18 segments: each segment is reflexed and sometimes glaucous. The lanceolate shaped bractlets are in two series, with the apices acuminate in shape. The wide involucres are green to dark green or brownish-green, with the tips dark gray or purplish. The florets number 40 to over 100 per head, having corollas that are yellow or orange-yellow in color.
The fruits, called cypselae,
range in color from olive-green or olive-brown to straw-colored to grayish, they are oblanceoloid in shape and long with slender beaks. The fruits have 4 to 12 ribs that have sharp edges. The silky
pappi, which form the parachutes, are white to silver-white in color and around 6 mm wide. Plants typically have 24 or 40 pairs of chromosomes, while some have 16 or 32 pairs.
Chemistry
Taraxalisin is a serine
proteinase
A protease (also called a peptidase, proteinase, or proteolytic enzyme) is an enzyme that catalysis, catalyzes (increases reaction rate or "speeds up") proteolysis, breaking down proteins into smaller polypeptides or single amino acids, and spurri ...
found in the latex of
dandelion
''Taraxacum'' () is a large genus of flowering plants in the family Asteraceae, which consists of species commonly known as dandelions. The scientific and hobby study of the genus is known as taraxacology. The genus is native to Eurasia and Nor ...
roots. Rudenskaya et al. (1998) found that taraxalisin
hydrolyzes
Hydrolysis (; ) is any chemical reaction in which a molecule of water breaks one or more chemical bonds. The term is used broadly for substitution, elimination, and solvation reactions in which water is the nucleophile.
Biological hydrolysi ...
a chromogenic peptide substrate Glp-Ala-Ala-Leu-pNA optimally at pH 8.0.
Maximal activity of the proteinase in the roots is attained in April, at the beginning of plant development after the winter period.
Taxonomy
Carl Linnaeus
Carl Linnaeus (; 23 May 1707 – 10 January 1778), also known after his Nobility#Ennoblement, ennoblement in 1761 as Carl von Linné#Blunt, Blunt (2004), p. 171. (), was a Swedish botanist, zoologist, taxonomist, and physician who formalise ...
named the species ''
Leontodon
''Leontodon'' is a genus of plants in the tribe Cichorieae within the family Asteraceae, commonly known as hawkbits.
Their English name derives from the mediaeval belief that hawks ate the plant to improve their eyesight. Although originally ...
taraxacum'' in 1753. The current genus name ''Taraxacum'' derives possibly from the
Arabic
Arabic (, ' ; , ' or ) is a Semitic language spoken primarily across the Arab world.Semitic languages: an international handbook / edited by Stefan Weninger; in collaboration with Geoffrey Khan, Michael P. Streck, Janet C. E.Watson; Walter ...
''Tharakhchakon'',
or from the
Greek
Greek may refer to:
Greece
Anything of, from, or related to Greece, a country in Southern Europe:
*Greeks, an ethnic group.
*Greek language, a branch of the Indo-European language family.
**Proto-Greek language, the assumed last common ancestor ...
''Tarraxos''.
The specific name ''officinalis'' refers to its value as a medicinal herb, and is derived from the word ''opificina'', later ''officina'', meaning a workshop or pharmacy.
The taxonomy of the genus ''
Taraxacum
''Taraxacum'' () is a large genus of flowering plants in the family Asteraceae, which consists of species commonly known as dandelions. The scientific and hobby study of the genus is known as taraxacology. The genus is native to Eurasia and Nor ...
'' is complicated by
apomictic and
polyploid
Polyploidy is a condition in which the cells of an organism have more than one pair of ( homologous) chromosomes. Most species whose cells have nuclei ( eukaryotes) are diploid, meaning they have two sets of chromosomes, where each set contain ...
lineages,
and the taxonomy and nomenclatural situation of ''T. officinale'' is not yet fully resolved.
The taxonomy of this genus has been complicated by the recognition of numerous species,
subspecies and
microspecies
In biology, a species complex is a group of closely related organisms that are so similar in appearance and other features that the boundaries between them are often unclear. The taxa in the complex may be able to hybridize readily with each oth ...
. For example, Rothmaler's flora of Germany recognizes roughly 70 microspecies.
''T. officinale'' has a fossil record that goes back to
glacial
A glacial period (alternatively glacial or glaciation) is an interval of time (thousands of years) within an ice age that is marked by colder temperatures and glacier advances. Interglacials, on the other hand, are periods of warmer climate betwe ...
and
interglacial times in Europe.
North American dandelions
The plants introduced to North America are triploids that reproduce by obligate gametophytic apomixis
Some authorities recognize three subspecies of ''Taraxacum officinale'', including:
* ''Taraxacum officinale'' subsp. ''ceratophorum'' (Ledeb.) Schinz ex Thellung which is commonly called common dandelion, fleshy dandelion, horned dandelion or rough dandelion. It is native to Canada and the western U.S.
Some sources list it as a species, ''Taraxacum ceratophorum''.
* ''Taraxacum officinale'' subsp. ''officinale'', which is commonly called common dandelion or wandering dandelion.
* ''Taraxacum officinale'' subsp. ''vulgare'' (Lam.) Schinz & R. Keller, which is commonly called common dandelion.
Two of them have been introduced and established in Alaska and the third (subsp. ''ceratophorum'') is native there.
European dandelions
''Taraxacum officinale L''. (dandelion) is a vigorous weed in Europe with diploid sexual populations in the southern regions and partially overlapping populations of diploid sexuals and triploid or tetraploid apomicts in the central and northern regions.
These European dandelions can be divided into two groups. The first group reproduces sexually, as do most seed plants. This group consists of dandelions that have a diploid set of chromosomes, and are sexually self-incompatible. Sexual reproduction involves a reduction of the somatic chromosome number by meiosis followed by a restoration of the somatic chromosome number by fertilization. Diploid dandelions have eight pairs of chromosomes, and meiosis is regular with normal pairing of homologous chromosomes at the metaphase I stage of meiosis.
The second group consists of polyploid (mostly triploid) apomicts, meaning that both a viable embryo as well as a functional endosperm is formed without prior fertilization. In contrast to the sexual diploids, the pairing of chromosomes at metaphase I in triploid apomicts is strongly reduced. However pairing is still sufficient to allow some recombination between homologous chromosomes.
Etymology
''Taraxacum'' is derived from the
Arabic
Arabic (, ' ; , ' or ) is a Semitic language spoken primarily across the Arab world.Semitic languages: an international handbook / edited by Stefan Weninger; in collaboration with Geoffrey Khan, Michael P. Streck, Janet C. E.Watson; Walter ...
word (or ) for a bitter herb.
[Gledhill, David (2008). "The Names of Plants". Cambridge University Press. (hardback), (paperback). pp 279, 371] It may be related to the Greek word ταρασσω (''tarasso'') meaning to disturb.
The Latin
specific epithet ''officinale'' refers to the
Latin
Latin (, or , ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally a dialect spoken in the lower Tiber area (then known as Latium) around present-day Rome, but through the power of the ...
word for 'medicinal' or 'of the apothecaries'.
''T. officinale'' has many English common names (some of which are no longer in use), including blowball, lion's-tooth, cankerwort, milk-witch, yellow-gowan, Irish daisy, monks-head, priest's-crown and puff-ball;
other common names include, faceclock, pee-a-bed, wet-a-bed,
swine's snout,
white endive, and wild endive.
The common name ''dandelion'' comes from the
French ''dent de lion'', or "lion's tooth", in reference to the plant's jagged-edged leaves.
Distribution and habitat
''Taraxacum officinale'' is native to Europe and Asia, and was originally imported to America as a food crop. It is now naturalized throughout North America, southern Africa, South America, New Zealand, Australia, and India. It occurs in all 50 states of the US and most Canadian provinces.
The plant grows in
temperate regions
In geography, the temperate climates of Earth occur in the middle latitudes (23.5° to 66.5° N/S of Equator), which span between the tropics and the polar regions of Earth. These zones generally have wider temperature ranges throughout t ...
of the world in
lawn
A lawn is an area of soil-covered land planted with grasses and other durable plants such as clover which are maintained at a short height with a lawnmower (or sometimes grazing animals) and used for aesthetic and recreational purposes. ...
s, on roadsides, disturbed banks, shores of waterways, and other areas with moist soils.
The plant is coveted by collectors in regions where the plant is trickier to grow such as the tropics, where people would often resort to smuggling seeds from overseas.
Ecology
It is considered a
noxious weed in some jurisdictions,
and is considered to be a nuisance in residential and recreational lawns in North America. It is also an important weed in agriculture and causes significant economic damage because of its infestation in many crops worldwide.
''T. officinale'' can serve as an
indicator plant
A bioindicator is any species (an indicator species) or group of species whose function, population, or status can reveal the qualitative status of the environment. The most common indicator species are animals. For example, copepods and other sma ...
for soil
potassium
Potassium is the chemical element with the symbol K (from Neo-Latin ''kalium'') and atomic number19. Potassium is a silvery-white metal that is soft enough to be cut with a knife with little force. Potassium metal reacts rapidly with atmosph ...
and
calcium
Calcium is a chemical element with the symbol Ca and atomic number 20. As an alkaline earth metal, calcium is a reactive metal that forms a dark oxide-nitride layer when exposed to air. Its physical and chemical properties are most similar t ...
, as the plant favours soils with relatively low concentrations of calcium, but favours soils with relatively high concentrations of potassium.
The dandelion is a common colonizer of disturbed habitats, both from wind blown seeds and seed germination from the seed bank.
The seeds remain viable in the seed bank for many years, with one study showing germination after nine years. This species is a somewhat prolific seed producer, with 54 to 172 seeds produced per head, and a single plant can produce more than 5,000 seeds a year. It is estimated that more than 97,000,000 seeds/
hectare
The hectare (; SI symbol: ha) is a non-SI metric unit of area equal to a square with 100- metre sides (1 hm2), or 10,000 m2, and is primarily used in the measurement of land. There are 100 hectares in one square kilometre. An acre is ...
could be produced yearly by a dense stand of dandelions. When released, the seeds can be spread by the wind up to several hundred meters from their source. The seeds are also a common contaminant in crop and forage seeds. The plants are adaptable to most soils and the seeds are not dependent on cold temperatures before they will germinate but they need to be within the top of soil.
''T. officinale'' is food for the
caterpillars of several
Lepidoptera (butterflies and moths), such as the
tortrix moth
The Tortricidae are a family of moths, commonly known as tortrix moths or leafroller moths, in the order Lepidoptera. This large family has over 11,000 species described, and is the sole member of the superfamily Tortricoidea, although the genus ...
''
Celypha rufana
''Celypha rufana'', common name lakes marble, is a small moth species of the family Tortricidae, long known under the junior synonym ''C. rosaceana''.
Synonyms
Junior synonyms of this species are:
* ''Argyroploce rufana'' (Scopoli, 1763)
* ''Cel ...
''. See also
List of Lepidoptera that feed on dandelions
Dandelions (''Taraxacum'' species) are used as food plants by the caterpillars of a number of Lepidoptera species, including:
* Arctiidae
** '' Hypercompe scribonia'' (giant leopard moth)
* Geometridae
** '' Idaea aversata'' (riband wave)
** '' ...
.
Even though dandelion pollen is of poor nutritional quality for
honey bee
A honey bee (also spelled honeybee) is a eusocial flying insect within the genus ''Apis'' of the bee clade, all native to Afro-Eurasia. After bees spread naturally throughout Africa and Eurasia, humans became responsible for the current cosm ...
s, they readily consume it, and it can be an important source of nutritional diversity in heavily managed monocultures such as that of blueberries. Honey bees have not been shown to lower their pollination activity on nearby fruit crops when foraging on dandelions.
While not in bloom, this species is sometimes confused with others, such as ''
Chondrilla juncea
''Chondrilla juncea'' is a species of flowering plant in the family Asteraceae known by a number of common names, including rush skeletonweed, gum succory, devil's grass, and nakedweed. The plant is native to Europe, Asia, and North Africa, but ...
'', that have similar
basal rosette
In botany, a rosette is a circular arrangement of leaves or of structures resembling leaves.
In flowering plants, rosettes usually sit near the soil. Their structure is an example of a modified stem in which the internode gaps between the lea ...
s of foliage. Another plant, sometimes referred to as
fall dandelion, is very similar to dandelion, but produces "yellow fields" later. Its blooms resemble some of the species of ''
Sonchus
''Sonchus'' is a genus of flowering plants in the tribe Cichorieae within the family Asteraceae and are commonly known as sow thistles (less commonly hare thistles or hare lettuces). Sowthistles are annual, biennial or perennial herbs, with or w ...
'', but are larger.
Uses
The plant has several
culinary uses: the flowers are used to make
dandelion wine
''Dandelion Wine'' is a 1957 novel by Ray Bradbury set in the summer of 1928 in the fictional town of Green Town, Illinois, based upon Bradbury's childhood home of Waukegan, Illinois. The novel developed from the short story "Dandelion Wine", wh ...
,
the greens are used in salads, the roots have been used to make a coffee substitute (when baked and ground into powder) and the plant was used by
Native Americans as a food and medicine.
Culinary
Dandelions are harvested from the wild or grown on a small scale as a
leaf vegetable
Leaf vegetables, also called leafy greens, pot herbs, vegetable greens, or simply greens, are plant leaves eaten as a vegetable, sometimes accompanied by tender petioles and shoots. Leaf vegetables eaten raw in a salad can be called salad gre ...
. The leaves (called dandelion greens) can be eaten cooked or raw in various forms, such as in
soup or
salad
A salad is a dish consisting of mixed, mostly natural ingredients with at least one raw ingredient. They are typically served at room temperature or chilled, though some can be served warm. Condiments and salad dressings, which exist in a va ...
. They are probably closest in character to
mustard
Mustard may refer to:
Food and plants
* Mustard (condiment), a paste or sauce made from mustard seeds used as a condiment
* Mustard plant, one of several plants, having seeds that are used for the condiment
** Mustard seed, seeds of the mustard p ...
greens. Usually the young leaves and unopened buds are eaten raw in salads, while older leaves are cooked. Raw leaves have a slightly bitter taste. Dandelion salad is often accompanied with hard-boiled
egg
An egg is an organic vessel grown by an animal to carry a possibly fertilized egg cell (a zygote) and to incubate from it an embryo within the egg until the embryo has become an animal fetus that can survive on its own, at which point the a ...
s. The leaves are high in
vitamins A and
C, as well as
iron
Iron () is a chemical element with Symbol (chemistry), symbol Fe (from la, Wikt:ferrum, ferrum) and atomic number 26. It is a metal that belongs to the first transition series and group 8 element, group 8 of the periodic table. It is, Abundanc ...
,
phosphorus
Phosphorus is a chemical element with the symbol P and atomic number 15. Elemental phosphorus exists in two major forms, white phosphorus and red phosphorus, but because it is highly reactive, phosphorus is never found as a free element on Ear ...
, and
potassium
Potassium is the chemical element with the symbol K (from Neo-Latin ''kalium'') and atomic number19. Potassium is a silvery-white metal that is soft enough to be cut with a knife with little force. Potassium metal reacts rapidly with atmosph ...
.
Dandelion flowers can be used to make dandelion
wine
Wine is an alcoholic drink typically made from fermented grapes. Yeast consumes the sugar in the grapes and converts it to ethanol and carbon dioxide, releasing heat in the process. Different varieties of grapes and strains of yeasts are m ...
, for which there are many recipes.
Most of these are more accurately described as "dandelion-flavored wine," as some other sort of fermented juice or extract serves as the main ingredient. It has also been used in a
saison
Saison (French, "season," ) is a pale ale that is highly carbonated, fruity, spicy, and often bottle conditioned. It was historically brewed with low alcohol levels, but modern productions of the style have moderate to high levels of alcohol. ...
ale called Pissenlit (the French word for dandelion, literally meaning "wet the bed") made by
Brasserie Fantôme
In France, Flanders, and the Francophonie, Francophone world, a brasserie () is a type of French restaurant with a relaxed setting, which serves single dishes and other meals. The word ''brasserie'' is also French language, French for "brewery ...
in
Belgium
Belgium, ; french: Belgique ; german: Belgien officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a country in Northwestern Europe. The country is bordered by the Netherlands to the north, Germany to the east, Luxembourg to the southeast, France to th ...
.
Dandelion and burdock is a soft drink that has long been popular in the
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the European mainland, continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotlan ...
.
Another recipe using the plant is dandelion flower jam. In
Silesia
Silesia (, also , ) is a historical region of Central Europe that lies mostly within Poland, with small parts in the Czech Republic and Germany. Its area is approximately , and the population is estimated at around 8,000,000. Silesia is split ...
and other parts of Poland and the world, dandelion flowers are used to make a honey substitute
syrup
In cooking, a syrup (less commonly sirup; from ar, شراب; , beverage, wine and la, sirupus) is a condiment that is a thick, viscous liquid consisting primarily of a solution of sugar in water, containing a large amount of dissolved sugars ...
with added lemon (so-called ''May-honey''). Ground roasted dandelion root can be used as a non-caffeinated
coffee substitute
Coffee substitutes are non-coffee products, usually without caffeine, that are used to imitate coffee. Coffee substitutes can be used for medical, economic and religious reasons, or simply because coffee is not readily available. Roasted grain b ...
.
Diuretic
''T. officinale''
's
diuretic
A diuretic () is any substance that promotes diuresis, the increased production of urine. This includes forced diuresis. A diuretic tablet is sometimes colloquially called a water tablet. There are several categories of diuretics. All diuretics i ...
properties - believed to be a result of the plant’s high
potassium
Potassium is the chemical element with the symbol K (from Neo-Latin ''kalium'') and atomic number19. Potassium is a silvery-white metal that is soft enough to be cut with a knife with little force. Potassium metal reacts rapidly with atmosph ...
content - have been well described, with the leaves of this plant having been used for this purpose in
traditional Chinese medicine
Traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) is an alternative medical practice drawn from traditional medicine in China. It has been described as "fraught with pseudoscience", with the majority of its treatments having no logical mechanism of acti ...
for approximately 2,000 years, with other regions of the world using the plant in the same way; in French, a common name for ''T. officinale'' is ''pissenlit'', 'a colorful description of its diuretic activity.' A study conducted in 2009 noted 'promising' results regarding these diuretic properties, but that further studies would need to be conducted into the plant's efficacy.
Herbal medicine
Dandelion has been used in
traditional medicine
Traditional medicine (also known as indigenous medicine or folk medicine) comprises medical aspects of traditional knowledge that developed over generations within the folk beliefs of various societies, including indigenous peoples, before the ...
in Europe, North America, and China.
Other
Yellow dye colors can be obtained from the flowers but little color can be obtained from the roots of the plant.
The latex can be used as a kind of glue.
See also
* ''
Taraxacum erythrospermum
''Taraxacum erythrospermum'', known by the common name red-seeded dandelion, is a species of dandelion introduced to much of North America, but most commonly in the north. It is often considered as a variety of ''Taraxacum laevigatum'' (i.e., '' ...
''
References
Further reading
*
*
*
*
*
External links
Northernbushcraft.com: Dandelion (''Taraxacum officinale'')— ''detailed information about edibility.''
{{Authority control
officinale
Flora of Europe
Edible plants
Herbs
Crops originating from Europe
Leaf vegetables
Medicinal plants of Europe
Perennial vegetables
Plant dyes
Flora of Algeria