In many ways, dandelions are the perfect plant:
- bright yellow flowers for much of the year, if you deadhead regularly,
- popular with pollinators and seed-eating birds so good for wildlife,
- very attractive seedheads that are fun for children to play with,
- striking evergreen foliage
- you can even eat them.
And yet … it’s hard to love them. They’re just so successful! Those seeds can travel a very long way on the gentlest breeze, which mean you can be quickly overrun. And even if you deadhead scrupulously, those seeds can get to you from up to 5 miles away if others are less assiduous.
They actually have lots of uses.
All parts of the plant are edible, although you might prefer to blanch or sauté the leaves to reduce bitterness. You can also make dandelion wine and use the roots as a coffee substitute, rather like chicory.
You can use them for dyeing: yellowy green from the flowers and purple from the leaves.
They also do good in the garden, if kept under control. They are what is known as “dynamic accumulators” – they draw nutrients such as nitrogen from the soil and concentrate them in their leaves and roots, which means that the leaves are good for composting. Not the roots, flowers or seedheads though.
In a study done at the University of Wisconsin, experimental plots with dandelions had more ladybirds than dandelion-free plots, and fewer aphids – a ladybird can eat 5000 aphids in its lifetime (including larval stage) – and each of those aphids could have had a billion offspring in a year.
And, most excitingly, the Fraunhofer Institute in Germany has found a way of making rubber from the milky sap in the stalk of Russian dandelions. They’re working with Continental Tyres, who tested tyres made from dandelion rubber in 2014. However, they’re not going to be commercially available until 2020 at the earliest.
Here are some random facts about dandelions, some of which you’ll know already but hopefully not all:
- There isn’t a single species of dandelion – the British Isles alone, 234 microspecies are recognised, of which 40 are “probably endemic”.
- The Latin name for our common dandelion is taraxacum officinale – the officinale indicates that it was considered to have medicinal uses.
- The English name is a corruption of the French “dent de lion”, lion’s tooth, for the shape of the leaves. The modern French name is pissenlit, reflecting that the dandelion has a powerful diuretic effect.
- In the Language of Flowers, dandelion stands for faithfulness and happiness.
- Up until the 1800s, people would pull grass out of their lawns to make room for dandelions and other useful “weeds” like chickweed, malva, and chamomile.
- The tap root may grow to 18” (45 cm).
- Dandelion pollen cannot cause allergies (the grains are too large), but you can get contact dermatitis from the sap.
Have I convinced you?
I didn’t need any convincing about the beauty of the dandelion, but am interested in all he other amazing facts you have given here! Thanks, Jo