Taraxacum sp

Scientific description

Taxon: Taraxacum officinale
Class: Magnoliopsida
Subclass: Asteridae
Order: Asterales
Family: Asteraceae
Common name: Dandelion

Origin:
Native to Eurasia, now cosmopolitan.

Description:
Perennial herbaceous plant forming a basal rosette of deeply toothed, broad and elongated green leaves with irregular edges. Hollow, leafless stem bears a single bright yellow flower composed of many ligulate florets. Flowering occurs from spring to autumn. After flowering, produces a spherical head of fluffy achenes dispersed by wind. Hardy, easily colonizes meadows, lawns, roadsides, and disturbed areas.

Propagation:
By very light seeds dispersed by wind (anemochory). Vegetative multiplication by root fragments.

Ecology:
Pioneer plant of open and disturbed habitats, tolerant of wide range of soils and climates. Supports biodiversity by providing nectar and pollen for insects.

Use:
Consumed in salads (young leaves), used in herbal medicine for diuretic, digestive, and detoxifying properties. Limited ornamental use.

Threat:
Not threatened. Very common species, sometimes considered invasive.

Creative writing inspired by Taraxacum sp

The child and the magic dandelion

Once upon a time, a little child lived in a small house in the country with his mother and father, who was seriously ill. The father was unable to speak or move. All day long he lay on the sofa in front of the window, which overlooked a magnificent field of dandelions.

The little boy was curious, mischievous, with sparkling eyes and a bright smile, and dreamed of enchanted adventures in a magical, fairy-tale world, but his only wish was that his father would get well and be able to get up and run with him in that beautiful dandelion field.

On a day like any other since his dad had been ill, as soon as he woke up, he didn't waste a single second and ran out into the middle of the dandelions, which were everywhere, to the right, to the left, in front and behind. He didn't think the gray ones were pretty and made a mess of the dandelion field, so he used to pull them out and throw them away. In the distance, he saw a woman looking at him, but did nothing about it.

Until the day he went out, the little boy was very sad because his father was at the end of his life. He didn't have much time left before he died. The child sat down in the middle of all those yellow flowers, kept pulling out the grey ones and crying for his poor daddy, asking and begging that his father would pull through, that he would live longer, that he would no longer suffer from this horrible disease. And he finished by blowing on the gray flower, which evaporated into the sky.

It was getting late, and the young boy decided to dry his tears and go home. On his way home, he heard crying – his poor mother crying. He entered the bedroom and saw his father standing there, accompanied by his mother. A shock to the child, he hadn't expected it at all, so he jumped up and cried with joy – he was so happy to see his dad back on his feet. His wish had come true. For him, it was the happiest day of his life.

As night fell, the child was as happy as ever, and asked himself a thousand and one questions. He pondered and remembered the woman watching him from afar, wondering if she was a fairy, and if she was the one who would grant his wish. The child hurried out in search of the woman, figuring he'd probably run into her. And he was right: she was sitting in the middle of the dandelions, contemplating this magnificent field.

The young boy sitting next to her didn't have time to ask all the questions that crossed his mind, as the woman began to explain. She told him that when you make a sincere wish, it will come true the second you blow on the dandelion. The boy couldn't understand how this could be, so he looked at the field and when he turned to the woman, she disappeared.

Disappointed that he hadn't had time to ask his questions, the young boy returned home smiling as he realized that the flowers he'd been throwing away for so many years, thinking they were bland, were simply the cure for his father's illness. The young boy finally lived his life with his parents, filled with happiness and immense joy.

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