Online Encyclopedia

Search over 40,000 articles from the original, classic Encyclopedia Britannica, 11th Edition.

DANDELION (Taraxacum officinale)

Online Encyclopedia
Originally appearing in Volume V07, Page 801 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
» Make a correction to this article.
» Add information or comments to this article.
Spread the word: del.icio.us del.icio.us it!

See also:

DANDELION (See also:Taraxacum officinale) , a. perennial See also:herb belonging to the natural See also:order See also:Compositae. The plant has a wide range, being found in See also:Europe, Central See also:Asia, See also:North See also:America, and the See also:Arctic regions, and also in the See also:south temperate See also:zone. The leaves See also:form a spreading rosette on the very See also:short See also:stem; they are smooth, of a See also:bright shining See also:green, sessile, and tapering downwards. The name dandelion is derived from the See also:French dent-de-See also:lion, an appellation given on See also:account of the tooth-like lobes of the leaves. The See also:long tap-See also:root has a See also:simple or many-headed rhizome; it is See also:black externally, and is very difficult of extirpation. The See also:flower-stalks are smooth, brittle, leafless, hollow, and very numerous. The See also:flowers See also:bloom from See also:April till See also:August, and remain open from five or six in the See also:morning to eight or nine at See also:night. The flower-heads are of a See also:golden yellow, and reach 12 to 2 in. in width; the florets are all strap-shaped. The fruits are See also:olive or dull yellow in See also:colour, and are each surmounted by a long See also:beak, on which rests a pappus of delicate See also:white hairs, which occasions the ready dispersal of the See also:fruit by the See also:wind; each fruit contains one See also:seed. The globes formed by the plumed fruits are nearly two inches in See also:diameter. The involucre consists of an See also:outer spreading (or reflexed) and an inner and erect See also:row of bracts. In.all parts of the plant a milky juice is contained, which has a somewhat complex See also:composition.

The See also:

chief constituent is taraxacin, a neutral principle. In addition the juice contains taraxacerin (derived from the former), asparagin, See also:inulin, resins and salts. An See also:extract (dose 5-15 grains), a liquid extract (dose a–1 drachm) and a succus (dose 1–2 drachms) of the root are all used medicinally. For the purposes formerly recognized taraxacum is now never used, but it has been shown to possess definite cholagogue properties, and may therefore be prescribed along with ammonium chloride in cases of hepatic See also:constipation, which it very constantly relieves. The root—which is the medicinal product—is most See also:bitter from See also:March to See also:July, but the milky juice it contains is less abundant in the summer than in the autumn. See also:tII. 26For this See also:reason, the extract and succus are usually prepared during the months of See also:September and See also:October. After a See also:frost a See also:change takes See also:place in the root, which loses its bitterness to a Dandelion (Taraxacum officinale). r, Unopened See also:head; 2, ripe head from which all the fruits except two have been removed; 3, one floret, enlarged; 4, one fruit. large extent. In the dried See also:state the root will not keep well, being quickly attacked by See also:insects. Externally it is See also:brown and wrinkled, internally white, with a yellow centre and concentric paler rings.

It is two inches to a See also:

foot long, and about a See also:quarter to See also:half an See also:inch in diameter. The leaves are bitter, but are some-times eaten as a See also:salad; they serve as See also:food for silkworms when mulberry leaves are not to be had. The root is roasted as a substitute for See also:coffee. Several varieties of the dandelion' are recognized by botanists; they differ in the degree and mode of cutting of the See also:leaf-margin and the erect or spreading See also:character of the outer See also:series of bracts. The variety palustre, which affects boggy situations, and flowers in See also:late summer and autumn, has nearly entire leaves, and the outer bracts of its involucre are erect.

End of Article: DANDELION (Taraxacum officinale)

Additional information and Comments

There are no comments yet for this article.
» Add information or comments to this article.
Please link directly to this article:
Highlight the code below, right click, and select "copy." Then paste it into your website, email, or other HTML.
Site content, images, and layout Copyright © 2006 - Net Industries, worldwide.
Do not copy, download, transfer, or otherwise replicate the site content in whole or in part.

Links to articles and home page are always encouraged.

[back]
DANCOURT, FLORENT CARTON (1661-1725) 		[next]
DANDOLO

Site © 2006 - Net Industries