Taraxacum mongolicum, also known as cattail grass, bedwetting grass and milkweed, is a medicinal and edible plant in Compositae for many years. It is cold in nature and slightly bitter in taste. It enters the liver and stomach channels and contains dandelion alcohol, dandelion, choline, organic acids, inulin, protein, fat, carbohydrates, trace elements and vitamins. It has the effects of clearing away heat and toxic materials, relieving swelling and resolving hard mass, and is used to treat acute mastitis and lymphadenitis. In the market, sonchus sonchifolius (also known as Patrinia scabra) of the same family is pretending to be dandelion, so pay attention to identification when using it.

Genuine dandelion

The appearance is a crumpled and curled mass, and the roots are conical; Rough surface, brown; The periphery of the root head is brown or black; The leaves are basal, shriveled and broken. After wetting and flattening, the whole leaves are oblanceolate, green-brown or dark gray-green, with sharp or blunt apex, shallow or pinnately divided edges, gradually narrowed base, stalked downward, and obvious main veins on the lower surface. Flowering stems 1 to several, hollow like crushed straw, and soft, often in the form of slender slices, almost equally wide from top to bottom, both 2 ~ 3 mm, without branches and nodes, each terminal flower has a single head, and some can be seen as long oval achenes with white crown hairs; The new flower stems are short, with obvious pilosity, and egg-like buds are borne at the top; The smell is slight, and the taste is slightly bitter.

Fake endive

Its root is cylindrical, the surface is yellowish brown, and the surface of the root head is not black; The leaves are shriveled or broken, with dark green on the top and grayish green on the bottom. After flattening, the complete leaves are broadly lanceolate or oblong-lanceolate, with no crack at the edge, small spikes at the apex and ear-shaped stems at the base. Occasionally stems, slightly hard, unequal in width, with leaf scars; The smell is also weak, but the taste is light and salty.

Modern pharmacological research has confirmed that genuine dandelion has good anti-infection effect and has been made into different dosage forms such as injection, tablet and syrup. Dandelion extract and injection have strong bactericidal effect on many kinds of bacteria, and can be used instead of antibiotics to some extent. And can inhibit that elevation of alanine aminotransferase, make gallbladder contract and sphincter relax, and has the function of protecting live and benefiting gallbladder; Can obviously protect stress gastric ulcer; It can also improve immunity. However, the counterfeit sonchus sonchifolius belongs to the same family as dandelion, but it does not have the above effects of dandelion, so it cannot be used as a substitute for dandelion.