Dandelion
Taraxacum officinale
The leaf is recommended and approved by the Commission E for “loss of appetite and dyspepsia, such as feeling of fullness and flatulence.”
- Commission E Monograph
“Dandelion is one of the best herbs to use in chronic rheumatic complaints. The point of attack is in interstitial tissue. At the same time, the function of the large glands, e.g. liver and kidneys, is enhanced... Far more important than this, however, appears to be the action in chronic degenerative joint disease. Arthritic conditions in particular present enormous problems to us. Corticoids, including the latest compounds, are even less successful here than with primary chronic polyarthritis. It is all the more important, therefore, that we do everything we can to use antidyscratic [against disease] plant drugs with their metabolic activity in these cases. A course of dandelion therapy is prescribed every spring, with the patient taking dandelion tea... every morning and evening... With this regimen [described in far greater detail in the text] our chronic arthritics clearly feel much better. Mobility increases, stiffness is reduced, and the tendency to develop further lesions decreases.”
- Herbal Medicine
a.k.a.
blowball, fairy clock, Irish daisy, peasant’s cloak, priest’s crown, puffball, swine’s snout, yellow gowan
