Dandelion

Today's the day .......................... to call by another name

Dandelions are to be seen everywhere at the moment. There's quite a few in our garden - which I don't mind because I think they are quite pretty and unlucky to be relegated to the status of weeds - after all, a weed is just a flower in the wrong place, isn't it?

The English name dandelion is a corruption of the French dent de lion meaning "lion's tooth", referring to the coarsely toothed leaves but it has lots of different names in different countries. Here are just a few -

In Italy they are piscialletto or in Spain meacamas - these names refer to the strong diuretic effect of the plant's roots either roasted or raw.

In France, it is also known as laitue de chien (dog's lettuce) or salade de taupe (mole's salad).

In other languages, the plant is named after the white sap found in its stem, e.g. mælkebøtte (Danish for "milk pot").

In Bulgarian and Macedonian its name is derived from the word for 'deaf' because of a traditional belief that dandelion parachutes can cause deafness.

In Finnish and Estonian, it is called voikukka and võilill, meaning "butter flower", referring to its buttery colour.

In Persian it is called qasedak, meaning the "small postman", because of a belief that it brings good news.

And (rather unimaginatively) in China it is called pú gong ying , meaning "flower that grows in public spaces by the riverside"....................................