Consider-the-Lilies Web Gallery

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Common Dandelion

If there is any lily that deserves to be called "common", it is the Dandelion (Taraxacum officinale, also known as T. vulgare).  

Found throughout the temperate areas of the northern hemisphere, this member of the Aster family flourishes in fields and meadows—and most certainly—in lawns! To say the least, it is a most adaptable flower.

Although the origin of its common name is obscure, one plausible explanation relates the similarity of the deeply lobed foliage to the fangs of a lion, or in medieval Latin, Dens leonis.

Many consider this plant to be just an annoying weed that spoils the beauty of their lush green lawns with its vivid yellow blossoms. But, as has been said, "beauty is in the eye of the beholder." Others, seeing the golden blossoms of "tooth of the lion" have been inspired to express their admiration in poetry! Ones man's weed is another's wildflower!

To the Dandelion

How like a prodigal doth nature seem,
When thou, for all thy gold, so common art!
Thou teachest me to deem
More sacredly of every human heart,
Since each reflects in joy its scanty gleam
Of heaven, and could some wondrous secret show,
Did we but pay the love we owe,
And with a child's undoubting wisdom look
On all these living pages of God's book.

                              James Russell Lowell  

An elegant expression of the theme of the Gallery, don't you think?

Besides, the visual and spiritual attributes appreciated by the poet, others value Dandelion for its medicinal and gastronomic uses. The dried and processed root is a registered drug in Canada, where it is sold as diuretic. The milky sap has been used since ancient times in Europe for the removal of warts.

Some enjoy the young leaves and unopened buds raw in a green salad, and, even when mature, the leaves are said to be still delicious, if slightly tart, as a pot green. (Also enjoyed as an edible green are members of another group of early Spring plants, the Mustard family (Brassicaceae), which includes Hairy Bittercress, Yellowrocket, Whitlow-grass and Garlic Mustard.)  Raw or cooked, the leaves are a rich source of Vitamins A and C and contain more beneficial iron than spinach. And, in addition, the blossoms can be used to make dandelion wine!

This plant is so hard to eradicate because it able to flower and develop seeds almost the entire year.

And what is found in very few flora, it  is not dependant on fertilization to produce the next generation. Asexually; through a process called apomixis, it can produce viable seed with no help from pollinators.  Self-cloning plants--very mysterious!

As one can see, there are lots of seeds in each Dandelion "clock." (So called in Great Britain, where it is said children enjoy counting the number of puffs of air required to denude the seed head as a fun way to arrive at the time of day.)

With poet Lowell, I recommend that we open our eyes to really see the golden blossoms and fluffy white clocks of the dandelion: "And with a child's undoubting wisdom look on all these living pages of God's book..."—even if we must sometimes resort to weed killer!