What are the characteristics of dandelion? Introduction to its main features
Dandelion is very widely distributed in China. In many places across North China, Central China, East China and Northeast China, during the three seasons of spring, summer and autumn, dandelion grows in fields, roadsides, hillsides, and around the front and back of houses. It is one of the most common wild flowers and grasses. Is the plain and unremarkable dandelion really that ordinary? Below, let us take a look together at exactly what characteristics dandelion has!
Dandelion has high medicinal value
That dandelion can treat diseases and cure illnesses was recorded as early as in ancient texts. Long-term and abundant facts have proven that dandelion is a precious Chinese herbal medicine. Its nature and flavor are sweet, bitter and cold, and it has multiple functions such as clearing heat and detoxifying, dispersing abscesses and resolving masses, reducing inflammation, cooling blood, promoting urination, promoting bile secretion, mild laxation, strengthening the stomach, and preventing cancer. It mainly treats dozens of conditions including acute mastitis, mumps, lymphadenitis, scrofula, toxin-induced sores and swellings, acute conjunctivitis, pharyngitis, colds 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 therapeutic effects
Whether wild or cultivated, dandelion is a nutrient-rich specialty vegetable. The edible portion of fresh tender whole dandelion herb 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 nicotinic acid. 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 dietary vegetable and a good medicine for treating diseases, but it has also been relatively 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 glowing with health. For example, dandelion combined with forsythia and horsetail can be used for skin care; dandelion combined with purslane can be used to treat greasepaint dermatitis; after decocting dandelion and filtering the juice, applying it to the face can be used to treat dry skin; after mashing dandelion and mixing it with honey, it 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 to make a skin lotion can be used to treat leukoderma pigment spots, etc.
Dandelion can be used as veterinary medicine
Dandelion is not only an excellent dietary vegetable and a good medicine for treating diseases for humans, but it can also be relatively widely used in animal husbandry and veterinary medicine. It can serve as a precious feed additive and can also treat multiple diseases of various livestock. For example, decocting whole dandelion herb in water and administering the juice orally 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 yedoensis and winter melon seeds can treat emphysema, fever and panting in livestock; dandelion combined with capillary wormwood can treat painful urination, fever and abdominal distension in sheep; dandelion and cowherb seed ground into fine powder with yellow rice wine and brown sugar as a guide can treat lack of 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; and mashing dandelion and yellow chrysanthemum together and applying it to the affected area can treat carbuncles, swellings and sores in livestock.
Dandelion has relatively high ornamental value
1. Dandelion's inner beauty: (1) Plain and unadorned, with extremely vigorous growth and quite spectacular. (2) It blooms twice, in spring and autumn, and the spring flowering period is extremely early. (3) Although the flowers are not large and cannot compare with the gorgeousness of peonies, roses or cherry blossoms, their flower quantity is abundant and pure, giving them a unique style, and they are also quite loved by people. (4) It has a wide range of uses, can achieve multiple benefits at once, and yields twice the result with half the effort.
2. Signs of extremely strong vitality: (1) Plant once and it can be used for many years. (2) After the flowers fade they become fluff, fly with the wind, and wherever they land on wet ground they immediately grow. (3) It is not selective about soil, and can still grow vigorously even in thin and poor land. (4) It is cold-resistant, heat-resistant, drought-resistant, waterlogging-resistant, and resistant to diseases and pests, with very few natural disasters. (5) It can compete with various weeds and emerge victorious.