WALLACE, Idaho — We must salute George Sink, and then Vern Hulsizer, for their dandelion crops this spring.
Ours, being further south into the shade, came up later to rival them, but George and Vern had 'em first. And a dandelion bloom is a gift to behold.
While our friends in Kellogg and San Diego, being of climes further south, are the beneficiaries of early hatches of tulips, daffodils, and even lawns, we in Wallace this time of year are greeted by the smiling yellow faces of our favourite flower. Our early bulbs, even the crocus, remain, like all wise Wallace denizens, hunkered down for the last snowstorm or two.
But the fearless dandelions have surfaced on King Street, shown their shocks of brilliant yellow, and appear already frantic to reproduce with their fluffy white seeds — this while the snow was still flying.
Why do people detest dandelions? They have qualities we all ought to admire: They represent resilience, toughness, loyalty, beauty. I mean, how many flowers do you know that would bust through concrete just to be with you again? Dandelions will do this: they will seek you out like a stray dog.
You probably know this, but the dandelion gets it name from a truncation of the French dent-de-lion, meaning Lion's Tooth (dent equals tooth, as in dentist; you can figure out the rest). The lion-tooth business has to do with the coarse cut of the dandelion's leaves. The French also refer to the dandelion as “dog's lettuce.”
The dandelion is also known around Europe and the U.K. as: blowball, cankerwort, doon-head-clock, witch's gowan, milk witch, yellow-gowan, Irish daisy, monks-head, priest's-crown and puff-ball. Other common names include faceclock, pee-a-bed, wet-a-bed, dog's meat, swine's snout, white endive, blowing flower, and wild endive. I do not make these up; just go to Wikipedia.
We had a crypto-nazi ex- (and future-) Californian living across the street until last summer, before he quit his Wallace City Council post and skipped town. He had surreptitiously snuck into our front yard at night the last couple of years to poison our dandelion crop with chemicals that can only be manufactured in the Third World by Monsanto.
This Calfornian wanted his lawn to look like a putting green at some world-class golf course. Our airborne dandelion seeds were inconsistent with his strategy. And there was his poison now in our yard.
This is from the University of Maryland's Medical Center:
“While many people think of the dandelion (Taraxacum officinale) as a pesky weed, herbalists consider it a valuable herb that can be used as a food and medicine. Dandelion is a rich source of vitamins A, B complex, C, and D, as well as minerals such as iron, potassium, and zinc. Dandelion leaves are used to add flavor to salads, sandwiches, and teas. The roots are used in some coffee substitutes, and the flowers are used to make wines.
“Traditionally, dandelion roots and leaves were used to treat liver problems. Native Americans also boiled dandelion in water and took it to treat kidney disease, swelling, skin problems, heartburn, and upset stomach. In traditional Chinese medicine, dandelion has been used to treat stomach problems, appendicitis, and breast problems, such as inflammation or lack of milk flow. In Europe, it was used in remedies for fever, boils, eye problems, diabetes, and diarrhea.”
And here we had some Californian pass-through neighbour trying to murder these wonderful plants in our own front yard.
There is no explaining career Californians. They come here, blast through our sensibilities trying to make us commercially better, then book out, broke, because we didn't conform to their ideas about how to re-make Idaho.
I'll take a dandelion over a Californian know-it-all any old day. Maybe it's time to crank up a Dandelion Festival here. Let us celebrate that which is early and beautiful, and offers us healing.
