1734 Dan Dilly

Spring. Everything's in bloom. Especially those lovely yellow flowers--in my lawn. Yep. The ubiquitous dandelion.
What a prolific plant it is. I remember it from the desert area of Southern California, and it's here in the wetlands of the Pacific Northwest. In each place it seems to reside in the one place it's least welcome, the suburban lawn.
So I wondered, why do we call it dandelion? It's certainly not a dandy thing to have around. Or are we just mispronouncing some scientific name like dan-DIL-ion?
I did a little research and wow, what an amazing plant. First, it is native to Eurasia and North America but is in temperate climates worldwide. And though most cultures see it as a weed, it is completely harvestable as a food product.
The name dandelion comes from the French, "dent-de-lion" meaning, literally, tooth of the lion, named after the shape of the dent-de-lion's leaves. It also has other names if various cultures. In French it's named pissenlit, in England, piss-a-bed and in Italian, piscialletto, all referring to the plants strong diuretic effect, not to how people feel when they see it in their lawn.
But what's really amazing is that all the parts of the plant are edible, leaves, flowers, and roots, and contain large quantities of vitamins A, C, and K. Plus, it's great for other plants as it's taproot brings up nutrients from deep in the soil. It also attracts pollinating insects and releases ethylene gas to help ripen fruits.
A complete food source, with beneficial effects to other food plants too. And it grows anywhere, like manna from heaven.
Sounds like the real weed is the completely useless suburban lawn. I think I'll let my dandelions take over. Then I'll have a dandy lawn.
And a whole frontyard full of salad.
America ya gotta love it.