Know your dandelion ID

LaurieLovesLearning

Below you will see two different dandelion look-a-likes. Their medicinal properties are much different than Taraxacum officinale.

I think the first would certainly give you cotton mouth and both would taste nothing like what you would expect a dandelion to taste like. I'm not sure of the Latin name for these, but consider this a reminder to get to know your plants before ingesting any part of them.

Courtesy of my oldest daughter...

Torey

Amazingly life-like!

LaurieLovesLearning

That's what I said. I asked if I could post the pictures here and I think she felt honored. 😀 I'm pretty oroud. She's so very talented with anything she does.

JodieDownUnder

Wow so clever & intricate. Is that for a project or she just felt like making them?

LaurieLovesLearning

@JodieDownUnder I didn't ask.

Michelle D

Those are beautiful! I am not talented like that when it comes to crafty things. I'm very impressed.

jowitt.europe

@LaurieLovesLearning so beautiful. And they look like real, especially the blossom in her hand. Well done!

nicksamanda11

Hey, nice!

VermontCathy

We have some kind of dandelion look-alike growing as a weed along the roads near us. The yellow flower looks very similar and so does the white flower, but the stalks are taller, and the it lacks the wide leaves of the dandelion.

Does anyone know what this "false dandelion" might be?

LaurieLovesLearning

It could be sow thistle. If that's what it is, it's edible.

https://www.ediblewildfood.com/sow-thistle.aspx

marjstratton

Wow, those are beautiful!

LaurieLovesLearning

@marjstratton I thought so too!

Torey

@VermontCathy There are a few plants that may be commonly referred to as false dandelion in addition to the sow thistle that Laurie mentioned.

Cat’s-ear (aka flatweed), Hypochaeris radicata.

Prairie false dandelion, Nothocalais cuspidata.

Hawkweeds (particularly the yellow ones), Hieracium species.

Orange false dandelion, mountain dandelion & annual false dandelion, all Agoseris species.

Checking out which ones grow in Vermont, I suspect it might be cat's ears.

VermontCathy

@Torey None of those look quite right. This plant has tall stalks with leaves that look completely different from normal dandelions. Unlike dandelions, these "false" dandelions seem to be largely done blooming now.

I'll take a picture of one and post it here, and maybe someone can identify it.

VermontCathy

Most of my "false dandelions" are no longer in flower, but I found one at roadside the other day in the last stages of flowering.

LaurieLovesLearning

@VermontCathy I don't have any idea.

Torey

@VermontCathy The leaves look distinctly like coltsfoot but our species here don't have yellow flowers. When I googled yellow flowered coltsfoot, I came up with Tussilago farfara.

The flowers always come before the leaves and poof just like a dandelion when done flowering.

This is excellent lung medicine! What a great find!

VermontCathy

@Torey Yes, those yellow flowers in your picture are what it looks like earlier in the season, and the leaves match.

It tends to grow along the border of the road here.

Interesting that it's not native to North America, us considered invasive, and has medicinal properties.

It must have been brought to Vermont by early settlers and escaped.

Torey

@VermontCathy I agree that it probably came with settlers as a medicinal plant from Europe/Britain and it has naturalized itself.

If you can find some that's not right beside the road, harvest some leaves and dry them for a respiratory tea; colds & coughs, bronchitis, asthma, whooping cough, etc., etc. Tussilago can be used interchangeably for Petasites species (coltsfoot or butterbur). I used my local Petasites species in some combinations I used for COVID. The flowers and leaves may be made into a syrup for similar conditions but I've never had the chance to harvest any for that purpose.

A caution. Tussilago and Petasites species both contain PAs, similar to comfrey, so should be avoided by anyone who may have liver disease.

LaurieLovesLearning

Even if it growing along the road, dig some up and replant. It will give you other plants in future years that will be clean.