Taraxacum officinale Web. (ex Wigg.)
The family of Compositae is Compositae, or Asters are Asteraceae
What does it look like? A perennial herbaceous plant 5-30 cm tall, when damaged it emits a milky white juice. The root is spindle-shaped, sparsely branched, fleshy, 20-60 cm long, 1-2 cm in diameter, bitter in taste. All leaves are collected in a basal rosette, lanceolate, notched-pinnate. The flower stem is hollow, at the top it carries a flower basket. Inflorescence – one basket 3-5 cm in diameter, the wrapper is double-rowed, bumpy, green. All the flowers are tabular, the corolla is golden-yellow. Blooms in May – July.
Where does it grow? Throughout the territory of Ukraine — on moist soils, by roads, in gardens and orchards, on forest edges, meadows.
What and when are collected? Flowers together with arrows – during flowering, roots with leaves – in spring, before flowering of the plant, roots themselves – in autumn. They are dried in the oven at a temperature not higher than 70°.
When is it used? For diseases of the liver and gall bladder (stones), for a swollen spleen, jaundice, diabetes, to improve digestion with insufficient stomach acidity, gastritis, as a diaphoretic, antipyretic, lactophoretic, expectorant and a little laxative, for chronic constipation and hemorrhoids, to soothe pain in urolithiasis. The roots and leaves of the plant contain a bitter substance, glycoside taraxacin, triterpene alcohols, rubber, organic acids, asparagine, vitamins A, B 1 , C, D, mucus, resin, sugar, 25% polysaccharide inulin (roots), volatile oil, salts calcium, potassium, choline, tyrosinase, coloring substances (various carotenoids, such as xanthophyll), sterols, taraxerol, sitosterol, flavoxanthin, saponins (leaves) and other substances. Roast dandelion rootsused instead of coffee as its surrogate. From young raw leaves, before flowering, a vitamin salad is prepared, which stimulates appetite and invigorates digestion, improves blood health. Pogo is eaten for anemia and viper bite, for rheumatism, gout, spondyloarthrosis. You can also crush 4-5 leaves into a soup against heartburn.
Used in the form of tea. Take 1 tablespoon of flowers (or chopped roots) per 1 cup of boiling water, boil for 1 minute (roots — 10 minutes) and infuse for 10 minutes. Drink 1 glass twice a day—in the morning and in the evening, in sips. Instead of tea, you can use powdered dandelion leaves , 1 g 3-5 times a day. To stimulate appetite and invigorate digestion, infuse 1 tablespoon of a mixture of dandelion root, yarrow grass, and bitter wormwood in a ratio of 1:2:2 into 1 glass boiling water for 20 minutes. Drink 1 tablespoon a day, 3-4 times, 15 minutes before meals (also with hemoptysis). As a blood-healthy remedy for skin diseases (rash on the body, boils, eczema), infuse 2 tablespoons of a mixture (equally) of dandelion leaves, small nettle (burnt) and thorn flowers in 2 glasses of boiling water for 4 hours and drink half a glass daily 4 times a day for 2 weeks. At the same time, diets are followed without meat and eggs. With atherosclerosis, infuse 1 tablespoon of a mixture (in equal measure) of dandelion root, wheatgrass rhizomes, yarrow root and yarrow grass in 1 cup of boiling water for 30 minutes and drink 1 cup daily in the morning and evening. Treatment is long.
As a choleretic agent, take 1 tablespoon of a mixture (equally) of dandelion root, lupine root, buckthorn bark, and cold mint leaves per 1 cup of boiling water, steam for 10 minutes. They drink 2-3 glasses a day. Or take 1 full tablespoon of a mixture (equally) of dandelion root, wild chicory root and cumin flowers in 1 glass of water, boil for 5 minutes and drink three times during the course of action. Or take 1 full tablespoon of a mixture (equally) of dandelion root, buckthorn root, buckthorn bark, celandine grass, leaves of trifolium and cold mint leaves in 1 glass of water, boil for 5 minutes. Drink 1 glass twice a day , before meals, to regulate bowel movements. Dandelion root flour, mixed with honey, prepare an ointment that is used for eczema. Wash off the ointment with warm milk serum
And also pay attention to the article Dandelion officinalis