Dr. Dandelion will see you now.
The plant has an age-old history of medicinal use. Cures made of everything from the flowers to the roots, boiled and powdered, are said to fix pretty much anything that ails a body. In fact, the Latin name for dandelion, Taraxacum officinale, means used for healing.
The Pilgrims set sail with dandelion seeds to plant in the New World, according to the Old Farmer's Almanac. The flowers were like packing for a trip with aspirin and heartburn pills. The first dandelions in America spread from the herb gardens of potion-brewing Puritans, the way the old farmer tells it.
Science finds no "compelling evidence" that dandelions work as medicine for anything, according to the National Institutes of Health. The best the government will say for ingesting the weed is that dandelion is "generally considered safe," except for now and then causing a case of allergic reaction.
But dandelions have other names that go back to ancient and medieval belief in them as absolute cure-alls. "Devil's milk pail," for one, comes from the milky liquid inside the plant's hollow stem, a supposed fix-it for warts. And a side benefit: It also fends off witches.
Today's store-bought herbal nostrums include dandelion root capsules and liquid extract for smooth skin, and dandelion tea as a liver tuneup.
And garden stores sell dandelion weed killer. For all its claims of medical benefits that may or not be true, the plant has one proven effect on the way some people feel: sick of dandelions.
-- Ron Wolfe
HomeStyle on 07/23/2016