Saturday, May 31, 2014

NYT: Dandelion: A Tenacious Beauty

"The source of the name “dandelion” is probably a corruption of the French “dent de lion,” or the Latin “dens leonis” — lion’s tooth. It takes only a little bit of imagination to see the pointy tines of each leaf as a tooth. But there is room for skepticism. For one, the leaves are soft and, especially when young, delightfully edible. It seems as if any peasant could easily find truly nasty “lion’s teeth” on the common thistle, whose fibrous, dagger-tipped leaves have some real bite, and which frequently calls the dandelion, neighbor." (read more)

7 comments:

rhhardin said...

Roundup-ready dandelion, to go with the roundup-ready ragweed.

Synova said...

What... "dandy" and "lion" because the flowers look like a lion's mane is too complex?

Lem the artificially intelligent said...

Global warming has no effect on them. Maybe there is hope for us yet ;)

Synova said...

They can be eaten.

Dust Bunny Queen said...

And you can drink them..

Dandelion Wine

rhhardin said...

Back in '86, my Doberman Susie was standing by me while I chatted with a neighbor, and Susie idly ate a dandelion.

"How much do you want for that dog?" asked the neighbor.

chickelit said...

Previously at Lem's: Dandelion by The Rolling Stones.