How often have you thought about pulling up Dandelions (Taraxacum Officinale in Latin) in your garden? Thought of them as a nuisance and a weed which needs to be removed. Well, think again because I bet you did not know this about dandelions…
The Dandelion is the only flower that represents the three celestial bodies of the Sun, the Moon and the Stars.
The yellow flower represents the sun, the puff ball (or dandelion clock), the moon and the dispersing seeds the stars.
The dandelion flower opens to greet the morning and closes in the evening to go to sleep.
Every part of the dandelion is useful, root, leaves and flower. It can be used for food, medicine and dye for coloring.
Up until the 1800’s people would pull up the grass out of their lawns and make room for other useful so called ‘weeds’ like chickweed, malva and chamomile.
The name dandelion is taken from the French word ‘dent de lion’ meaning lion’s tooth, referring to the coarsely-toothed leaves, which by the way are lovely in salads.
Dandelions have one of the longest flowering seasons of any plants.
And seeds can travel up to 5 miles from their origin!
So, isn’t that room for thought?
My 3 year-old granddaughter loves them and often picks and carefully brings the ‘puff balls’ for me. Cradled in her small hands so that the seeds don’t blow away. She calls them ‘whoosh flowers’. Isn’t that cute?
I think maybe the dandelion is the most unappreciated flower in our garden and in nature and maybe we should leave them be and not pull them up as weeds as their message is interesting to say the least.
Wash leaves thoroughly before using in salads particularly if you pick them out of your garden.
Images: Google
Good post. I learn something totally new and challenging on blogs I stumbleupon every day. It will always be interesting to read through articles from other writers and use a little something from other sites.