Taraxacum

The dandelion (Taraxacum officinale) is a plant familiar to all, being found throughout the whole of Europe, Central Asia, and North America, even to the Arctic regions. Although the word taraxacum is usually considered to be of Greek origin, there is no authentic record that the plant was known to the classical writers of Greece and Rome. The herbal, 1488, of Johann von Cube (173) gives it a position under the name Dens leonis. It is mentioned by Rhazes in the tenth and by Avicenna (30) in the eleventh centuries, and it was used in Welsh medicine in the thirteenth century. In domestic mediaeval medication and as an ingredient of many popular American "bitters" and "blood purifiers" taraxacum was employed extensively. It yet enjoys a high reputation as a home remedy.

The History of the Vegetable Drugs of the U.S.P., 1911, was written by John Uri Lloyd.