What are the characteristics of dandelion? Get the latest features clear in one article
Dandelion is very widely distributed in our country. In many places across North China, Central China, East China, Northeast China and other regions, during the three seasons of spring, summer and autumn, dandelions grow in fields, roadsides, hillsides, and around houses, making it one of the most common wild flowers and grasses. Is the plain and unremarkable dandelion really that ordinary? Now let us take a look together at just what characteristics dandelion actually has!
Dandelion has high medicinal value
That dandelion can treat illnesses and cure diseases was recorded in ancient books long ago. Long-term and extensive facts have proven that dandelion is a precious Chinese herbal medicine, sweet, bitter and cold in nature and flavor, with multiple functions such as clearing heat and detoxifying, dispersing abscesses and resolving masses, reducing inflammation, cooling the blood, promoting urination, promoting bile flow, mild laxative, strengthening the stomach, and preventing cancer. It mainly treats dozens of conditions including acute mastitis, mumps, lymphadenitis, scrofula, toxic sores and swellings, acute conjunctivitis, pharyngitis, cold and fever, acute tonsillitis, rheumatoid arthritis, acute bronchitis, gastritis, hepatitis, pneumonia, cholecystitis, acute and chronic appendicitis, urinary system infections, osteomyelitis, vaginitis, pelvic inflammatory disease, duodenal ulcer, acne, pimples, stone disease, as well as various cancers.
Dandelion has good dietary therapy effects
Whether wild or cultivated, dandelion is a specialty vegetable rich in nutrients. The edible portion of the fresh and tender whole dandelion plant is about 84%, and per 100 grams, the edible portion contains 4.8 grams of protein, 1.1 grams of fat, 5.0 grams of carbohydrates, 2.1 grams of crude fiber, 216.0 milligrams of calcium, 93.0 milligrams of phosphorus, 10.2 milligrams of iron, 7.35 milligrams of carotene, 0.03 milligrams of vitamin B1, 0.39 milligrams of vitamin B2, 47.0 milligrams of vitamin C, and 1.9 grams of niacin. It is not only rich in nutrients but also has very high medicinal value.
Dandelion has good cosmetic effects
Dandelion is not only rich in nutritional value and high in medicinal value, making it an excellent vegetable for dietary therapy and a good medicine for treating diseases, but it has also been fairly widely used in cosmetics. Whether you have dry skin, oily skin, aging skin, or freckles, pigmented spots, dermatitis, pimples, as well as acne, sycosis, white hair, hair loss and so on, dandelion can help you eliminate these “blemishes”, get rid of your troubles, and make you “flawless as white jade” and radiant. For example, dandelion combined with Forsythia suspensa and Equisetum hyemale can be used for skin care; dandelion combined with purslane can be used to treat oil-paint dermatitis; after decocting dandelion and filtering the juice, applying it to the face can be used to treat dry skin; mashing dandelion and mixing it with honey can be used to treat wrinkled and aging skin; boiling fresh dandelion flowers and applying the juice to the face morning and evening can be used to treat freckles and pigmented spots; and mixing dandelion juice with parsley juice as a moisturizing lotion can be used to treat hypopigmented spots, etc.
Dandelion can be used as veterinary medicine
Dandelion is not only an excellent vegetable for dietary therapy and a good medicine for treating diseases for humans, but it can also be fairly widely used in animal husbandry and veterinary medicine, both as a precious feed additive and to treat many diseases of various livestock. For example, decocting the whole dandelion plant in water and administering the juice can treat upper respiratory tract infections in livestock; decocting dandelion in water and applying it hot to the affected area can treat mastitis in livestock; dandelion combined with Viola mandshurica and winter melon seeds can treat emphysema, fever and panting in livestock; dandelion combined with Artemisia capillaris can treat difficult urination, fever and abdominal bloating in sheep; grinding dandelion and Vaccaria hispanica into fine powder and using yellow rice wine and brown sugar as a guide can treat insufficient milk in female livestock; decocting dandelion juice and mixing it with white sugar can treat nosebleeds in cattle and horses; decocting dandelion, apricot kernels and alum in water and taking it warm can treat laryngitis in cattle and horses; mashing dandelion and yellow chrysanthemum together and applying to the affected area can treat abscesses and sores in livestock, etc.
Dandelion has relatively high ornamental value
1. Dandelion's inner beauty: 1) Plain and unadorned, extremely vigorous in growth, quite spectacular. 2) It blooms twice, in spring and autumn, and its spring flowering period is extremely early. 3) Although the flowers are not large, not as gorgeous as peonies, roses or cherry blossoms, their flower quantity is abundant and pure, with a unique style, and they are quite loved by people. 4) It has wide uses and can achieve multiple benefits at once, yielding twice the result with half the effort.
2. Manifestations of extremely strong vitality: 1) Plant once and it can be used for many years. 2) After flowering it becomes fluff, flies with the wind, and grows as soon as it lands on wet ground. 3) It is not picky about soil and can grow vigorously even in thin and poor land. 4) It is cold-resistant, heat-resistant, drought-resistant, waterlogging-resistant, resistant to pests and diseases, and rarely affected by natural disasters. 5) It can compete with various weeds and win.