Tulips are the best flower according to Jane and Michael on Beer with Chocolate. Jane and Michael may have been slightly influenced by their Birthday Adventure in Holland. Much as I hate to disagree with my offspring (
), tulips are not the best flowering plant. Dandelions (from the French dent de lion - lion's teeth) are the best plant. Not only are dandelions beautiful, they are hardy and ubiquitous. They can grow almost anywhere with a minimum of care. In fact, you have to make special efforts to get rid of them—something you would only do if you have an extreme anti-dandelion prejudice. These days, civic governments throughout Canada are banning herbicides in order to save the dandelion. (You don't see anyone doing that for tulips, do you Jane?)
The most common species of dandelion is Taraxacum officinale.
The flowers are pretty. You can eat the leaves. The leaves will cure many diseases. You can make wine with dandelions. A company in Belgium called Brasserie Fantôme even makes a dandelion beer called Fantôme Pissenlit. (= wet the bed, from dendelion's medicinal properties).
Dandelions reproduce largely asexually. The flowers are just for show.
ReplyDeleteDandelions reproduce largely asexually.
ReplyDeleteMaybe anonymous (or someone else who knows more about dandelion biology than I do) can shed light on a mysterious statement I read in Scientific American about 20 years ago (in an issue that was already old when I read it, so I'd guess a publication date in the 1970s). The writer said that some experts believe that there are only four or five individuals in the dandelion population of the whole of North America east of the Rockies.
If he just meant that there is so little genetic variability that one can only detect four or five distinct genotypes then it may be true but trivial. (In that sense one could say that in modern times there has been only one male and one female cheetah in the world, and most would regard that as ridiculous).
However, I think he meant something less trivial but much more difficult to believe, that every dandelion flower belongs to one of only four or five islands of plants sharing a common root system. Could that conceivably be true?
Dandelion wine is delicious.
ReplyDeleteAt one time the regulation here [Sweden] was such that you couldn't make it legally, as IIRC brewing for home consumption was only allowed if the main sugar source was not refined sugar.
Fortunately my parents had a recipe where the sugar came mainly from dried figs. "Problem" solved.
Dandelion beer, that I must try!
Dandelions (at least the weedy North American ones) reproduce by apomixis. The haploid ovules become diploid without contribution from pollen, and each seed thus has just one parent. All the dandelions in an area are probably part of one lineage. I don't know how many lineages there are in N. Amer. but maybe that's what the article was saying - something about number of discrete genotypes?
ReplyDeleteAnd yes, they do reproduce vegetatively from roots, as anyone who's tried to control them by hand-pulling can attest :/
The Chicago Park District has stopped spraying for dandelions and is publicizing the fact that their dandelions are a sign of safe, herbicide-free grass. Good for them.
As the saying goes... "Learn to love your dandelions"
ReplyDeleteDandelions prove that the Intelligent Designer is Greek or Italian grandmother.
ReplyDeleteCan I claim my dandelions as a carbon offset? They fix CO2 very rapidly indeed...
ReplyDeleteCan I claim my dandelions as a carbon offset? They fix CO2 very rapidly indeed...
ReplyDeleteDandelion seeds are one of the most amazing designs in nature. I chose them for my space. Feel free to visit it at www.myspace.com/mariabentancur
ReplyDeleteThe leaves will cure many diseases.
ReplyDeleteUm... please elaborate.