The Dandelion Plant

( Western Herb )

Taraxacum officinale

The Dandelion plant is also known as Lion’s Tooth, Puffball, Blowball, Priest's Crown, Wild Endive, and Swine's Snout.

GENERAL DESCRIPTION AND INFORMATION:

The Dandelion plant is best known in North American as the weed that pops up in our freshly mowed lawns. It also grows wild in most of the world and is cultivated in China, France, and Germany as a herb.

It is a perennial plant that has a thick juicy root (which is often used for making coffee) and pale green leaves. One of the plant's distinguishing features is the single, smooth, pale green flower stem (which is sometimes tinged with mauve) that rises from the root just the same as the leaves. Its solitary gold, or yellow, flowers are followed by white downy puffball heads of seeds.

The Dandelion plant has played a large role in herbal medicine through the years. It has been used as a detoxifying herb, a healthful vegetable, the roots have been brewed into a coffee substitute and fermented into beer and the one that I am most familiar with from growing up in the mountains of West Virginia, Dandelion wine.

TARGET AILMENTS:

Take internally for:

* anemia

* bladder infection

* PMS (premenstrual syndrome)

* constipation

* hemorrhoids

* indigestion

* IBS (irritable bowel syndrome)

* liver problems

* reducing the risk of gallstones

* osteoporosis

* joint pain

* stimulate appetite

* easing stomach distress

* cleansing the blood and liver

* increasing bile production

* reducing serum cholesterol

* boils

* breast tumors

* cirrhosis of the liver

* hepatitis

* jaundice

* rheumatism

* skin and acne problems

PREPARATION AND DOSAGE:

Over the counter:

The Dandelion plant is available in teabags, tinctures, capsules, tablets, bulk herb fresh or dried) and powder in health food stores.

Tincture: Take 5 to 10 ml of the tincture three times a day or follow recommended dosage on container.

At home:

Decoction: Pour one cup of water in a pan and add 2 to 3 teaspoonfuls of Dandelion root and bring to a boil and simmer for 10 to 15 minutes. Drink this three times a day.

Nutrition and diet: Add fresh Dandelion leaves to a salad or sandwich, or blend the leaves in a juicer with other green vegetables.

Parts used: Flowers, leaves, tops and roots

Collection: In the spring leaves are picked for tonic salads. In the early summer, before the plant blooms, leaves are harvested for teas and tinctures. When a Dandelion plant is two years old, the roots are dug up in the fall, because this is when they have the greatest concentration of insulin, this is used in tablets and tinctures.

Constituents: Glycosides, triterpenoids, choline, taraxacin, acrystalline, lutein, mannitol, saponin

Actions: Diuretic, laxative, tonic, cholagogue, antirheumatic, antimicrobial, antibacterial, anti-inflammatory, antioxidant

Combinations: can be combined with Couchgrass and Yarrow to treat liver and gall-bladder problems.

SAFETY AND SIDE EFFECTS:

* Do not use if you are taking prescription diuretics.

* Do not give to children under the age of two.

* Do not use if you have an obstruction of the bile duct or bowel.

* Not recommended for people with gallstones.