Dandelion

The Dandelion is known to be an attractive plant mostly because of its beautiful yellow flowers and they are originated mostly from the European and Asian parts of the world.In the parts where Dandelion is not native to, it can start becoming weedy like for examply in the northern areas. They belong to the Taraxacum specie which is involved in the asexual reproduction by means of the apomixes and also the seed production occurring mostly without pollination.

Dandelion has the tap root system and is the perennial herbaceous plants. They are more widely known as the weeds or the ruderals.

The Dandelion consists of leaves which can extend up to a maximum height of 5-25cm and are either simple and basal or lobed in structure. They can push down the vegetation surrounding them as the leaves grow outward gradually. This can cut off the sunlight and eventually kill the vegetation. There are many flowering stems which can be about 2 to 5 cm in diameter and consist solely of ray florets. Dandelions are also used as food plants by some of the insect larvae of the specie Lepidoptera. However mostly the dandelion is taken as an unwanted weed by the gardeners.

There are certain important uses of the Dandelion like it can be used as a good source of leaf vegetable and is also used for cooking purposes and are also eaten in the raw forms in salads. Even the young leaves and the unopened buds are used for including in the salads which have a slightly bitter taste. The salads made with the Dandelions also consist of the boiled eggs. The leaves are in fact a good source of nutrition being high in Vitamin A, C and minerals like iron and calcium, even more than spinach.