Dandelion
(Taraxacum Officinale)

Medicinal Part: Plant

Description: The dandelion is a perennial plant found, to the dismay of many, almost everywhere.

Properties and Uses: Aperient, Cholagogue, diuretic, stomachic, tonic. Dandelion has two particularly important uses: to promote the formation of bile and to remove excess water from the body in edemous conditions resulting from liver problems. The root especially affects all forms of secretion and excretion from the body. By acting to remove poisons from the body, it acts as a tonic and stimulant as well.1

I was in my early teens before I discovered that most people considered the dandelion a weed. All I remember is being rousted out of bed extra early on Sunday mornings to collect dandelion leaves in the park, before the sun dried the dew from the leaves.