# Dandelion (Taraxacum officinale)

**Taraxacum*; French *dent de lion*, *pissenlit**

**Known today as.** *Taraxacum officinale*, of the daisy family.

Kind: Plant

## What was it used for?

A bitter for the liver and the gall, given for jaundice and obstructions; above all a diuretic, as its French name, *pissenlit*, says plainly.

## What does modern science say?

The leaf is a mild diuretic in a small human study; the root’s bitter compounds stimulate bile in animal work. No firm clinical evidence beyond that.

## Pharmacognosy and toxicology

- **taraxacin**: sesquiterpene lactone bitters
- **inulin**: up to 40 per cent of the autumn root
- **potassium**: 4 per cent of the leaf, the real diuretic
- **taraxasterol**: 

**Mechanism.** The leaf is a diuretic because of its potassium load, which is why it does not deplete potassium like the drugs; a single human trial (Clare, 2009) measured the increase. The root’s bitters raise bile flow in animals and its inulin is a prebiotic.

**Dose.** Safe as a vegetable; the latex is a contact allergen.

**Standing.** EMA monographs (2011) for the root with herb for mild dyspepsia and as a diuretic, and for the root for appetite; no trial for jaundice.

## What lore surrounds it?

Children tell the hour by the number of breaths it takes to blow the seed-clock bare, and lovers blow it to learn whether they are thought of.

## What did the older authorities say?

**Its name.** From the French *dent de lion*, lion’s tooth, for the jagged leaf.

## Sources

- Grieve, M. (1931). *A Modern Herbal*, “Dandelion.”
- Culpeper, N. (1652). *The English Physitian*.
- EMA/HMPC (2011). *Community herbal monograph on Taraxacum officinale Weber ex Wigg., radix cum herba* (EMA/HMPC/212895/2008).
- Clare, B. A., et al. (2009). “The diuretic effect in human subjects of an extract of *Taraxacum officinale* folium over a single day.” *Journal of Alternative and Complementary Medicine* 15.

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*Dandelion.* In *Materia Medica*, edited by B. C. P. Statema. Version 1, revised 2026-09-30. The Thinking Press. https://thethinkingpress.org/materia-medica/dandelion

Historical description, not medical advice.