The Dandelion
The real and ultimate understanding of flowers is not anatomical but sympathetic. The more you know of plants the more you will wonder at the beauty and variety of their contrivances by which they are saved from dangers.
Early in the year nature begins to stir and with the entry of March the signs of their awakenings accumulate amazingly, attracting the human eye just as it attracts the many insects that visit the dandelion. The reason why dandelions are so common is that they are so hardy and stay green throughout the year. Its flowers from spring to autumn and is protected from gnawing creatures by its bitter juice. The head of the flower rises from the midst of the rosette, however, not a single flower but a head of two hundred or more flowers.
The outer flowers open first followed by the inner, the plant then waits to be fertilised. Once fertilised it bows its head raising it again several days later. The leaves of the plant are a breathing mouth, an organ of respiration arranged with precision at definite and regular intervals. If water lies on them for too long it will interfere with the process of gaseous exchange, for many leaf shapes and structures help to disperse the rain, the pearls of water then travel along the ribs or channels across the leaf surface to the spikey tips then quickly drain the water away, just like the guttering and down spouts on our homes.
The flowers are protected by a double row of narrow leaves, thus protecting the bud from rain, frost and stormy weather. Dandelions open and close because a closed dandelion is camouflaged against the green. The reason it closes at night and in bad weather is so that the dew cannot penetrate the flower and destroy the pollen, but also to protect it from the wind which may blow away the precious pollen now hidden inside.
Dandelions are one of the earliest spring nectar sources for a wide host of pollinators, for when the sun is blazing bright the sky a perfect blue, the dandelion shines like molten gold until a lazy cloud hides the sun. Each head of flowers produces many seeds which are spread far and wide by the wind. The dandelion will stand its ground in the most crowded of situations and can generally turn out any competition from other species, but few are strong enough to turn out the humble dandelion.
The seeds are carried great distances and are swept along by the wind, traffic and trains by their plumes for they are the little parachutes dispersing the vast numbers of the plants’ children across the country. As children we have all blown the seeding heads, counting each blow to tell the time, and doing our own little bit to disperse their seeds. For these humble wild flowers have so many virtues. Its leaves are full of health-giving properties and can be used in salads, having a peppery flavour similar to that of rocket; the petals can also be sprinkled onto your salad offering a colourful addition. The flower heads make a wonderful wine when distilled and even the roots can be slowly roasted then ground to make a fine tonic drink similar to coffee but caffeine free. Many animals and birds also use this plant as a natural wild medicine and tonic. Wild birds will devour the seeds of the early dandelions to get them into high condition prior to breeding. As an aviculturist myself, I have collected the seeding heads for my own birds and this has helped them to achieve maximum health and vigour enabling them to produce many healthy offspring.
I have written this story for you as an experiment in the hope that you may help to spread my little stories which offer an absorbing mixture of moods and emotions far and wide just like the dandelion by sharing them with as many others as you can. For whispers of better things come to us gently, but also to enable necessary cultural changes to take place, educating both the young and older generations of the wonders that surround them and the need to protect our fragile environment for future generations yet to come.
