As a child, I would grasp the ethereal, globe-shaped seed head of a dandelion – Taraxacum officinale – and blow on it until all the seeds had dispersed.
The number of puffs it took would reveal to me the time of day.
We were always counselled as children not to handle the yolk-yellow flowers too much, for if we did it would live up to one of its common names, “pee-in-a-bed”!
Its other common names are just as charming: clock flower, tell-me-the-time, puffball, blowball and swine snout.
This living pharmacy has appeared in our garden from a packet of wild flower seeds of England and I feel most honoured by its presence.
Taraxacum is of the Asteraceae family and thought to comprise of some 600 species found throughout the world.
Two of Bahrain’s wildlings are related to the dandelion, they are Sonchus aleraceus and Sonchas asper and their milky sap is believed to possess magical properties!
This valuable herb’s seed head is designed to carry on a breeze. Each head can produce 200 plants and it is therefore considered a weed by many. In fact, it is said that if it were as scarce as ginseng, it would exact a comparable price.
Its common name was given by a 15th century surgeon who perceived that the jagged leaves resembled a lion’s tooth.
The medicinal and nutritional attributes of the dandelion are the main reasons for their plenitude. They have been intentionally cultivated and extensively used throughout history.
It was first mentioned in China in the Tang Materia Medica in the 7th century.
And it was well exploited in the works of Arab physicians in the 11th century. The Arabian physician, Avicenna, considered it a plant that would progressively restore health.
By the 13th century, physicians of Myddfai in Wales, cited it as a herbal remedy. The Celts introduced it to the Roman legions when Caesar invaded the north. The Anglo Saxons and the Normans applied it to prevent scurvy (a vitamin C deficiency).
In the Middle Ages, monks cultivated it in the monastery gardens to provide both food and medicine, whereas the Puritans used it only as a staple.
While Western herbalists separate the leaves and the roots, the Chinese use the whole plant: the flowers, seeds, roots and leaves. Chinese scientists have found that dandelion extracts have bactericidal effects against numerous grave bacteria.
They also use the flowers as a diuretic and for treating hypoglycaemic, antispasmodic, anticancer, boils, caries, dermatitis, fever, inflammation, leucorrhoea, liver conditions, mastitis, scrofula, snakebite and stomach ache.
It is a powerful diuretic, whose properties are absorbed through the skin. Apart from its diuretic qualities, it is used as a laxative, tonic, stomachic, antioxidant, hepatic and as an anti-inflammatory.
A salad of fresh leaves is eaten as a cleaning remedy. The juice of the fresh leaves is taken when a diuretic action is required. An infusion is taken to cure gout and eczema. It is also taken as a gentle liver and digestive stimulant.
Both the leaf and the root have a significant action on the gallbladder and they are used to prevent gallstones. The leaf aids in dissolving stones.
The bitter white milky sap from the stem and the roots is applied topically to remedy warts, moles, pimples, sores and calluses and to calm bee stings and blisters.
The sap, root and leaf extracts are taken for its diuretic properties to stimulate bile production, to remedy liver disorders to prevent or reduce high blood pressure, to increase milk flow in nursing mothers to alleviate pain of endometriosis and to hamper plaque build up on teeth. In Costa Rica, dandelions are used to treat diabetes.
Tinctures are mixed with other herbals to treat heart failure and to provide sufficient potassium intake.
Tinctures from the roots help toxic ailments such as gout, eczema or acne; and they are also given as a liver stimulant in specific liver disorders and related constipation. Decoctions from the root are exercised for identical conditions as the tincture.
Frontier healers prescribed it as a spring tonic and it is recognized as having saved lives of the pioneers in winter due to its significant vitamin content.
Dandelion’s high potassium content replaces potassium lost in normal urine secretion, resulting in a gain in potassium levels and is not the case with orthodox diuretics from the pharmacy. Native Americans have many uses for it amongst which is treating skin conditions such as eczema, acne and hives.
The Iroquois also have many uses for it, which include anaemia, constipation, pain and water retention.
The Pillager-Ojibwa use the root to make a tea to treat heartburn and the Cherokee drink the tea to calm the nerves.
Some tribal remedies involve boiling the flowers in water until the water turns a bright yellow. Having left it to rest overnight, they drink a glassful each morning to relieve heartburn.
Some tribes use the ground leaves as a poultice for broken bones. The leaves are also added to dough and placed on severe bruises to lift the blood out.
My maternal grandmother when she was alive would make a quality wine from the dandelion flower.
So the next time you go to weed-out a dandelion, spare a thought for its precious pharmaceutical and nutritional qualities.
Elizabeth Shaheen – GDN – 6 May, ’07