* Please Note: This information is based partly on Traditional Medicine which uses natural materials to support health. This information has not been evaluated or approved by the FDA. These statements have not been evaluated by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA). These products are intended to support general well being and are not intended to treat, diagnose, mitigate, prevent, or cure any condition or disease. If conditions persist, please seek advice from your medical doctor.
Description
Medicinal Usage
European settlers deliberately introduced it to the New World, where Native Americans quickly took it up. The Mohegans drank dandelion leaf tea as a tonic, while other Indians prepared a tea from the roots for heartburn. Because the flowers have such a long blooming season, later settlers introduced the dandelion into the Midwest to provide food for bees.
Dandelion greens are edible, either as a salad or cooked, and furnish a rich source of vitamins A and C. The blossoms are made into wine, and the dried roots can be ground, roasted, and brewed into a coffeelike beverage. The brew from the roots has been drunk as a tonic and for the reputed diuretic effect that accounts for its common French name, pissenlit, or "piss-in-bed." Dried dandelion leaves make a tea that is mildly laxative. But the most notable medicinal use of the dandelion has been the treatment of liver ailments with a brew made from the roots.
A tea from the leaves is used as a tonic and to promote bowel regularity. Although a brew from the roots is given for liver, gallbladder, and other digestive ailments, only its use as a tonic is fairly well substantiated. Dandelion wine can be made from the blossoms.
General Herb Information
Much money is spent on herbicides to remove this cheery flower from lawns and gardens, but the dandelion holds its own, producing seeds with or without pollination and distributing them far and wide.
Habitat: Meadows, roadsides, lawns.
Range: Throughout most of North America.
Identification: A perennial herb with a short stem hidden beneath a basal rosette of deeply toothed leaves. The plant has slender, hollow stalks that bear single heads of tiny, tongue-shaped yellow flowers (March-September). The flowerheads open wide in the morning and close in the evening. When mature, these flowerheads turn into downy white balls of seeds (actually fruits), each with its own parachute that carries it away on the wind.
Uses: The flowers can be boiled to make a yellow dye, the roots a magenta one.
User Group Forum
Share your questions and information with the ZooScape community!
Anonymous - February 14, 2007, 08:58
#10001051
Hi,
I wanted to thank you for sending me these health newsletters , I do enjoy reading them. I don't know how I got into your system ...........but thanks.
I would like to know if you have anything about the plant belladonna and what the plant looks like??
If you also have anything on dandylions , I would love to read up on that
ZooScape Moderator - February 15, 2007, 08:29
#10001473
Hi Karen,
There is enough research and information available to go on forever, but I've tried to boil down the information into a few brief paragraphs:
Belladonna is a tall perennial (3-6 feet high) with purple, bell-shaped flowers. It's name, atropa belladonna, is derived from one of the three Fates in Greek mythology who "cut the thread of life". This is significant because belladonna is actually a poisonous plant. The natural chemicals found in the plant have been used by doctors to dilate puipls and for their sedative and relaxant effects on smooth muscle. These properties have also made belladonna useful in treating tremors in Parkinson's disease patients and as an anesthetic. It is always used with a great deal of caution since the medicinal doses are dangerously close to toxic dosages that can lead to paralysis and death.
Belladonna, as with many other natural substances that would be toxic or near-toxic in regular herbal dosages, is more typically used in homeopathy. Homeopathy, and the underlying "Law of Similars" that governs it, involves extremely diluted concentrations of substances like belladonna (or poison ivy called rhus toxicodendron, for example). These plant substances would be harmful to the body in herbal or medicinal dosages, but when concentrated to the point where nothing remains but their "energy imprint", they are used to treat a variety of disorders. Homeopathic belladonna has been used to treat everything from infections, fevers, flu, and headaches to labour pains, nephritis, cystitis, and teething in infants.
Dandelion is highly regarded by the herbal practitioner, if not by the gardener, and needs no description in terms of the physical characteristics of the plant. The leaf and the root are both used medicinally (the flower has been used but not nearly as much), but typically dandelion root is favoured. Dandelion is cultivated primarily for liver, kidney, and gall bladder complaints and has been used to treat gout, kidney stones, obesity, hypertension, arteriosclerosis, and high choletserol. The expert panel in Germany known as the Commission E recommends the use of dandelion for liver disorders, appetite loss, indigestion, and fluid retention. Some research has pointed to the diuretic, antiviral, antifungal, and even anti-cancer properties of dandelion as well. It is, for good reason, one of the safest and most popular herbs.
I Hope that helps!
Directions
Take 1 capsule, 3 times daily, with meals.
Cautions
Discomfort due to gastric hyperacidity may occur.
In case of gallstones or obstruction of the bile ducts, gallbladder, or bile ducts seek professional medical advice before consumption.
Additional Information
TerraVita is an exclusive line of premium-quality, natural source products that use only the finest, purest and most potent ingredients found around the world. TerraVita is hallmarked by the highest possible standards of purity, potency, stability and freshness. All of our products are prepared with the highest elements of quality control, from raw materials through the entire manufacturing process, up to and including the moment that the bottles or bags are sealed for freshness and shipped out to you. Our highest possible standards are certified by independent laboratories and backed by our personal guarantee.
TerraVita exists to meet and ensure your family's health and wellness without the harmful effects or chemicals and prescription medications. We strive to make all of our products affordable and reliable and are constantly searching the market to maintain our affordability and to look for new ways to serve you and the ones you love. TerraVita has become a trusted household name for many families and can bring you and yours the very best herbal supplements, blends, teas and spices that are on the market today.
TerraVita is packed in childproof, tamper-proof pharmaceutical-grade recyclable containers.
ZooScape is proud to be the exclusive distributor of TerraVita teas, herbs and supplements in the United States, Canada and around the world. Please direct all wholesale and bulk inquiries to Simona Heather at 905-494-1785.
These statements have not been evaluated by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA). Products are intended to support general well being and are not intended to treat, diagnose, mitigate, prevent, or cure any condition or disease. If conditions persist, please seek advice from your medical doctor. The essence of the current American rule on Traditional Uses is, as stated by FTC, "Claims based on historical or traditional use should be substantiated by confirming scientific evidence, or should be presented in such a way that consumers understand that the sole basis for the claim is a history of use of the product for a particular purpose."
