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Dandelion / Dant y llew / Taraxacum officinale
Flowers March-April and again September - October
| Everyone imagines he is very familiar indeed with this extremely common plant, but there's a big catch - there are dozens of close relatives (the various hawkweeds and hawkbits), which people commonly mistake for the dandelion. However, there's an obvious clue, and it's in the name, in both the English and the Welsh. The English is from French dent de lion - 'lion's tooth' and the Welsh means exactly the same thing, but is directly from the Latin dens leonis. Only the dandelion has those viciously shaped (but pathetically floppy) leaves. Another clue is that the hollow flower stalks are full of sticky white goo. Both leaves and flowers can be used in salads, but are rather bitter. The flowers can be used to flavour white wine. The dried and ground roots can be used as a coffee substitute, but I don't think I want to recommend it ! The plant, which is dreaded and ruthlessly persecuted by gardeners as a very troublesome weed, is unusual in that it tends to flower twice a year in short bursts. The Spring burst is glorious, carpeting verges and roundabouts with gold, but not all plants flower again in the Autumn, so the second burst is rather disappointing most years. It's also disappointing in a wet Spring, because the flowers close up and look very scruffy when the weather is dull. |
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