The Complete and Latest Guide to Dandelion: Everything You Need to Know in One Article

Dandelion is a perennial herbaceous plant of the Asteraceae family, with flower heads, and seeds bearing white pappus forming fluffy balls; after blooming, the seeds drift with the wind to new places to nurture new life. The plant contains taraxol, taraxacin, choline, organic acids, inulin and various other healthful nutrients, and has diuretic, laxative, jaundice-clearing and cholagogue effects. Now let's take a look at the complete guide and pictures of dandelion!

Basic Information on Dandelion

[Scientific name] Taraxacum (dandelion)

[Alternative names] Huahualang, Pugongcao, edible dandelion, urinary bed-wetting grass, Western dandelion, Popoding.

[Distribution] China, Korea, Mongolia, Russia.

[Family and genus] Plantae, Angiosperms, Dicotyledoneae, Sympetalae, Asterales, Asteraceae, Liguliflorae, Cichorieae, Taraxacum, a perennial herbaceous plant.

Morphological Characteristics of Dandelion

[Root] Somewhat conical, curved, 4-10 cm long, brown on the surface, wrinkled, with brown or yellowish-white hairs at the root crown.

[Leaves] Obovate-lanceolate, oblanceolate or oblong-lanceolate, 4-20 cm long, 1-5 cm wide, apex obtuse or acute, margin entire or toothed, with 3-5 lobes on each side, base gradually narrowing into a petiole, petiole and main vein often reddish-purple, sparsely covered with arachnoid white pubescence or nearly glabrous.

[Flowers] One to several scapes, equal to or slightly longer than the leaves, 10-25 cm tall, upper part purplish-red, densely covered with arachnoid white long soft hairs, flower head about 30-40 mm in diameter, involucre campanulate, 12-14 mm long, pale green, anthers and stigma dark green, flowering period April to September.

[Fruit] Achene obovate-lanceolate, dark brown, about 4-5 mm long, about 1-1.5 mm wide, upper part with small spines, lower part with small tubercles arranged in rows, apex gradually contracting into a conical to cylindrical beak base about 1 mm long, beak 6-10 mm long, slender, pappus white, about 6 mm long, fruiting period May to October.

Main Values of Dandelion

[Nutritional value] Raw dandelion is rich in vitamin A, vitamin C and potassium, and also contains iron, calcium, vitamin B2, vitamin B1, magnesium, vitamin B6, folic acid and copper. Every 60 grams of raw dandelion leaves contains 86% water, 1.6 grams of protein, 5.3 grams of carbohydrates, and about 108.8 kilojoules of calories, and contains taraxol, taraxacin, choline, organic acids, inulin and various other healthful nutrients. It can be eaten raw, stir-fried or made into soup, and is a plant used both as food and medicine.

[Medicinal value] Dandelion is sweet and slightly bitter in taste, cold in nature, and enters the liver and stomach meridians. It has diuretic, laxative, jaundice-clearing and cholagogue effects, and treats heat toxin, carbuncles, sores, internal abscesses, red swollen painful eyes, damp-heat, jaundice, painful strangury with dribbling urination, furuncles and swellings, breast abscess, scrofula, toothache, red eyes, sore throat, lung abscess, intestinal abscess, damp-heat jaundice, and painful heat strangury. It treats acute mastitis, lymphadenitis, scrofula, furunculosis and sores, acute conjunctivitis, cold with fever, acute tonsillitis, acute bronchitis, gastritis, hepatitis, cholecystitis, urinary tract infection and other conditions.

[Beauty value] Dandelion is not only rich in nutrients and high in medicinal value, making it an excellent vegetable for dietary therapy and a fine medicine for treating diseases, but it has also been fairly widely used in beauty care.

[Ornamental value] Dandelion has the effect of greening and beautifying the environment, and whether planted as ground cover or cultivated as a potted plant, it can achieve satisfactory ornamental results.

[Veterinary value] Dandelion is not only a fine dietary vegetable and medicine for humans, but can also be fairly widely used in animal husbandry and veterinary medicine, serving both as a valuable feed additive and in treating various diseases of many kinds of livestock.