Dandelion
Taraxacum officinale

Location
Everywhere.

Description
Dandelions, like the other nine species making up the Taraxacum genus, is hardy perennial that contains a milky juice and are identifiable by its basal rosettes with often downy leaves (Le Strange 1977). Dandelion is a stemless plant with a simple tap-root and deeply serrated leaves, blooming single bright yellow flowers terminally that appear at almost any time of the year but mainly during April to November. The leaves’ orientation and grooves are constructed in a manner that directs rain towards the center of the rosette and the root (Grieve 1931).

History
Dandelion, also commonly known as Priest’s Crown and Swine’s Snout, is native to Europe and Asia, but has since been found in many other parts of the world including Canada, the U.S., Australia and New Zealand. It’s found everywhere with even scant soil (Le Strange 1977). Traditionally in medicine, the dandelion root was prescribed in medicine to treat rheumatism, gout, and jaundice. The juice of the plant was used topically as a wash for scurvy, eczema or sores, while it was taken internally to treat indigestion and upset stomachs (Le Strange 1977). As a culinary ingredient, the dried, roasted, and ground roots of the dandelion gathered in Autumn have been used as a weak substitute for coffee.

Leaves may be blanched and eaten raw in winter salads, added as vegetables in soups or harvested for their leaves as a salad herb (Fellows 1904). Root, leaves, or whole plants have been used medicinally as a diuretic, liver or kidney tonic (Grieve 1931).

Current Medicinal Uses
Despite the extensive history of dandelion use in herbal medicine for its purported choleretic, antirheumatic and diuretic properties, relatively little has been known about its chemical constituents and their relationship to the active principle until recently (Williams 1996). The bitterness found in dandelion leaves is due to the presence of sesquiterpene lactones; however, because it is a light dependent reaction, blanched greens are less bitter to the taste. Dandelion also contains two coumarins, cichoriin and aesculin.(Williams 1996).

Modern herbalists still employ dandelion leaves as a diuretic and roots as a liver tonic (Lewis 2003). The data supporting claims for dandelion as a diuretic, analgesic, hypoglycemic, or antitumor agent remains limited to animal research (Fugh-Berman 2003). A recent review of literature showed one pilot study that compared the effects of dandelion as part of a combinational botanical supplement on sex steroid hormone metabolism in premenopausal women against dietary changes and placebo arms. The results demonstrated no statistical differences between the groups (Greenlee 2007).

Adverse effects
No reports of toxicity related to this plant have been found in literature to date with the exception of contact sensitivity in rare cases (Duke 1985).

Comments
Taraxacum officinale is generally considered to have its name taken from the similarity of the leaves to the canine teeth of a lion, where a corruption of the French Dent de lion wording (meaning: tooth of the lion) has led to the common name dandelion.

Harvesting dandelions wild in residential areas raises issues of herbicide contamination, given how gardeners generally consider the plant a weed.

References
Duke JA. Handbook of Medicinal Herbs. CRC Press, Boca Raton, 2001.

Elvin-Lewis, Memory P. F. Medical botany: plants affecting human health 2nd Edition. John Wiley and Sons, 2003.

Fellows, Charles. The Culinary Handbook. The Hotel Monthly, Chicago, 1904.

Fugh-Berman, Adriane. The 5-Minute Herb & Dietary Supplement Consult. Lippincott Williams & Wilkins, Philadelphia, 2003.

Greenlee H, Atkinson C, Stanczyk FZ. A pilot and feasibility study on the effects of naturopathic botanical and dietary interventions on sex steroid hormone metabolism in premenopausal women. Cancer Epidemiology, Biomarkers & Prevention. 16(8):1601-9, 2007.

Grieve M. A Modern Herbal. Tiger Books International, London, 1998 (first published in 1931 by Jonathan Cape Ltd).

Le Strange, R. A History of Herbal Plants. Arco Publishing Company, Inc., New York, 1977.

Williams, Christine A. et al. Flavoniods, Cinnamic acids and Coumarins from the different tissues and medicinal preparations of Taraxacum officinale. Phytochemistry, Vol. 42. No. 1. Pp. 121-127. 1997.