Common Dandelion
Taraxacum officinale
Aster family (Asteraceae)
Dandelions are among the longest blooming, widest spread, most adaptable plants in the Rockies (and, of course, many other locations). They seed easily from the widely dispersed seeds (carried on the fluff of hairs) and they find a home in wet, dry, high, low, forested, and open locations. The leaves and flowers have been eaten for centuries. Countless hours have been spent by millions of home owners sitting on their front lawns gazing in admiration at this beautiful creation. Mountain in early spring, as soon as the snows are off, are commonly carpeted in acres of Dandelions.
Linnaeus named this plant Leontodon taraxacum in 1753 and it received its present name in 1779 from George Weber. "Taraxacum" may be a thousand+ years old name traceable through Arabic to the Persian "talkh chakok," meaning 'bitter ,' or the name may be from the Greek "tarassein," "to stir up," referring to the plant's reputed medicinal qualities. The common name is a condensation of the French "dent de lion" (also the Latin "Leontodon"), "lion's tooth," referring to the on the leaves.
©2004 Anthony Valois and the National Park Service
