dandelion

Photo: Walther Otto Müller — Public domain · source

Survives zone 3 through 9

Harvest calendar

Ripens: Young leaves in spring before flowering; roots in autumn

Best planted in early spring after your last frost, or in fall before the ground freezes, depending on your climate.

Whole plant edible — young leaves as a bitter salad or cooked green, roots roasted as a coffee substitute, flowers used for wine and syrup.

Hardiness

Zone 3–9

Habit

Herb

Edible part

Root, Flower, Leaf

Ripens

Young leaves in spring before flowering; roots in autumn

Mature size

Low rosette herb, flowering stalks 5–40 cm

Light

Full sun; tolerates partial

Soil pH

5.8–7.0

Environment

Temperate

Native range

Eurasia, and now effectively everywhere temperate on earth — grassland, lawns, roadsides and any disturbed ground.

Status

Both wild and cultivated

Years to fruit

1 yr

Growth speed

Fast — a seedling reaches flowering size in one season

Spacing

20 cm (8 in) apart — about 25 per m² (23 per 10 sq ft)

Leaf shape

A flat basal rosette of leaves 5–40 cm, deeply and irregularly back-pointing-toothed — the dent de lion that names it — hairless, and bleeding white latex when broken. No leafy stem: the flower stalk is hollow and leafless, which separates true dandelion from its many look-alikes.

Root system

A thick taproot 15–45 cm deep, brittle enough that any piece left behind regrows a whole plant — the reason it is impossible to weed out and easy to propagate on purpose. The root is also the part roasted as a coffee substitute.

Fruit description

Not a fruit: the familiar clock is a head of dry achenes, each on a parachute of hairs. Seed is set apomictically, without fertilisation, which is why dandelions come true and why microspecies of them run into the thousands.

Propagation

Seed, sown shallow — or root cuttings, which are near-infallible. Cultivated salad forms are sown in rows and often blanched under a pot to take the bitterness out.

Pollination

Self-fertile

The edible parts listed above are a starting point, not a field guide. Identify a plant with certainty — ideally against a local authority — before eating any part of it, and read the full disclaimer. Spotted something wrong? Report it.