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Happy Earth Day everyone! Things are springing! The osprey, great blue herons, and egrets are back, eiders are wooing their potential mates, peepers are peeping, and as you saw with Gina’s lovely pictures yesterday, one of the first native flowers to bloom in this area—trailing arbutus—are blossoming. At this time of year, the seasonal changes are fast and furious! Keep a lookout for bluets and trout lily blossoms this week.
And, it is the time of year when dandelions spring to life! Dandelions are everywhere right now! Most folks are not particularly fond of them. But, they are pretty interesting. Brought to North America by European settlers, they quickly spread largely for their usefulness. They are perennial and have a long tap root. Dandelion flowers open each morning and close each night. (Sometimes they won’t open at all on cloudy days.) When the flower is completely mature, it closes one night and simply doesn’t open again until the seeds are ripe. During this time, the stem grows and grows, perhaps to give the seeds a better chance of spreading in the wind by towering over their neighbors—and spread they do!
Their scientific name, Taraxacum officinale, translates into something like “the official remedy for all disorders.” Dandelions are rich in vitamins A and C, as well as calcium and iron. The milky sap found in the stem of a dandelion, which is chemically related to the similar-looking sap in milkweed plants, can irritate your skin, but to this day it serves as a folk remedy for removing warts. Dandelion flowers were used to make wine, the roasted roots can be ground as a coffee/tea substitute, and of course the young spring leaves are delicious in salads.
(Submitted by Lynn Knight. April 22, 2023)
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