DANDELION{Taraxacum Dens Leonis), a perennial herb belonging to the sub-order Cichoracece, of the natural order Composites. The plant has a wide range, being found in Europe, Central Asia, North America, and the Arctic regions. The leaves are smooth, of a bright shining green, sessile, and tapering downwards. The name dandelion is derived from the French dent-de-lion, an appellation given on account of the tooth-like lobes of the leaves. The long tap-root has a simple or many-headed rhizome; it is "black externally, and is very difficult of extirpation. The flower-stalks are smooth, brittle, leafless, hollow, and very numerous. The flowers bloom from April till August, and remain open from 5 or 6 in the morning to 8 or 9 at night. The flower-heads are of a golden yellow, and 1| inches in width; the florets are strap-shaped, and longer than the phyllaries. The achenes are olive or dull yellow in colour, and are each surmounted by a long beak; on this rests a pappus of white and delicate hairs, which occasions the ready dispersal of the seed by the wind. The globes formed by the plumed seeds are nearly 2 inches in diameter The involucre consists of an outer spreading (or reflexed) and an inner and erect row of bracts. In all parts of the plant a milky juice is contained, the principle of which, taraxacin, has diuretic properties. On exposure to the air the juice coagulates, deposits caoutchouc, and turns of a violet-brown colour. The leaves are bitter, but when blanched are sometimes eaten as a salad; they serve as food for silkworms when mulberry leaves are not to be had. The root is roasted as a substitute for coffee, and its infusion, decoction, and extract are employed medicinally as a tonic and aperient, especially in disorders of the digestive organs and liver. ...