Taraxacum mongolicum Seeds | Mongolian Dandelion
LATIN NAME: Taraxacum mongolicum
COMMON NAME: Mongolian Dandelion
Plant Profile
Taraxacum mongolicum is the dandelion of the northern grasslands, and it is a medicinal herb rather than a lawn weed. The leaves lie in a flat rosette, deeply cut and slightly hairy, and the flower stems rise to about thirty centimetres, each carrying a single yellow head. The root is thick, brown and full of milky latex, and it is the part that is harvested.
The species grows across northern China, Mongolia and Siberia, in grassland, on waste ground and along field edges. It is one of several dandelions used in Chinese pharmacy, where it is known as pu gong ying, and the dried whole plant is sold in bundles. The genus is notorious for its species problem, since many forms reproduce without sex.
Science & Biotechnology
Most dandelions reproduce by apomixis, forming seed without fertilisation, so a single plant can produce a clonal population of identical offspring. That is why the genus has thousands of named microspecies and why a field of dandelions can be a single clone. The seed is wind-borne on a pappus, and a plant can produce thousands of seeds in a season.
The root contains inulin, a storage polysaccharide, together with triterpenes and phenolic acids, and the leaf is rich in potassium. The latex contains taraxasterol and related compounds, and it has been studied as a possible source of natural rubber: the Russian dandelion, T. kok-saghyz, was grown for that purpose during the Second World War.
Uses & Benefits
In Chinese medicine the whole plant is used as a bitter tonic, for abscesses and for breast complaints, and it is taken as a decoction or as a powder. In Western herbal practice the leaf is a diuretic and the root a liver tonic, and dandelion coffee is made from the roasted root.
The young leaves are eaten as a salad and the flowers are used for wine and for syrup. The plant is also grown as a fodder crop for rabbits and for poultry, and it is one of the first flowers to feed bees in spring. The medicinal claims are traditional, and the evidence for liver effects is limited.
Growing from Seed
Seed should be sown fresh, on the surface, since it needs light. Scatter it on a fine seedbed in spring or autumn, press it in, and keep it moist; germination is in two to three weeks. The plant self-sows freely once established, which is either the point or the problem.
The plant grows on almost any soil, but it prefers a deep, moist loam and full sun. For a root crop, sow in rows and lift in the second autumn, when the root is thick. Dig the root with a fork, since it breaks easily, and dry it whole or sliced. Keep it away from a lawn, where it will spread.
Our Take
A useful bitter herb and a good early bee plant, and a weed wherever it is not wanted. Grow it in a bed of its own.
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