page_title: Taraxacum
section_title: Etymology
hierarchical_section_title: Taraxacum / Etymology
caption_attribution_description: English: Detail of taxicum leaf. Photo by Greg Hume
context_page_description: Taraxacum is a large genus of flowering plants in the family Asteraceae, which consists of species commonly known as dandelions. The genus is native to Eurasia and North America, but the two commonplace species worldwide, T. officinale and T. erythrospermum, were introduced from Europe and now propagate as wildflowers. Both species are edible in their entirety. The common name dandelion is given to members of the genus. Like other members of the family Asteraceae, they have very small flowers collected together into a composite flower head. Each single flower in a head is called a floret. In part due to their abundance along with being a generalist species, dandelions are one of the most vital early spring nectar sources for a wide host of pollinators. Many Taraxacum species produce seeds asexually by apomixis, where the seeds are produced without pollination, resulting in offspring that are genetically identical to the parent plant.
context_section_description: The Latin name Taraxacum originates in medieval Persian writings on pharmacy. The Persian scientist Al-Razi around 900 CE wrote "the tarashaquq is like chicory". The Persian scientist and philosopher Ibn Sīnā around 1000 CE wrote a book chapter on Taraxacum. Gerard of Cremona, in translating Arabic to Latin around 1170, spelled it tarasacon.
  The English name, dandelion, is a corruption of the French dent de lion meaning "lion's tooth", referring to the coarsely toothed leaves. The plant is also known as blowball, cankerwort, doon-head-clock, witch's gowan, milk witch, lion's-tooth, yellow-gowan, Irish daisy, monks-head, priest's-crown, and puff-ball; other common names include faceclock, pee-a-bed, wet-a-bed,swine's snout, white endive, and wild endive.
  The English folk name "piss-a-bed" (and indeed the equivalent contemporary French pissenlit) refers to the strong diuretic effect of the plant's roots. In various northeastern Italian dialects, the plant is known as pisacan ("dog pisses"), because they are found at the side of pavements.
  In Swedish, it is called maskros (worm rose) after the small insects (thrips) usually present in the flowers. In Finnish and Estonian, the names (voikukka, võilill) translate as butter flower, due to the color of the flower. In Lithuanian, it is known as "Pienė", meaning "milky", because of the white latex that is produced when the stems are cut. The Danish name mælkebøtte (sometimes fandens mælkebøtte) means "milk bin" ("the devils milk bin") and also refers to the milky latex (and its ability to spread). The Welsh (dant-y-llew), German (Löwenzahn), Norwegian (løvetann), Portuguese (dente de leão) and Spanish (diente de león) names mean the same as the French and the English names. In Czech it is known as pampeliška where the "liška" part directly translates to a "fox", possibly due to the colour of the flower.
caption: Leaf resemblance to lion teeth
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