RADIX TARAXACI. 



393 



that aOaKt} of Theophrast and others means it. The word Taraxacum 

 is however usually regarded as of Greek origin;^ we have first met 

 with as TaraJchshagun in the works of the Arabian physicians, who 

 speak of it as a sort of Wild Endive. It is thus mentioned by Rhazes 

 in the 10th, and by Avicenna in the 11th century. 



The name Dens Leonis, an equivalent of which is found in nearlj?- all 

 the languages of Europe, is stated in the herbal of Johann von Cube ^ 

 to have been bestowed on tills plant by one Wilhelra, a surgeon, who 

 held it in great esteem ; but of this personage and of the period during 

 which he lived we have sought information in vain, and we may re- 

 member that Dens Leonis ("Dant y Llew") is already met with in the 

 Welsh medicine of the 13th century .^ 



Dandelion was also much valued as medicine in the time of Gerarde 

 and Parkinson, and is still extensively employed. 



Collection — In England, taraxacum root is considered to be in per- 

 fection for extract in the month of November, the juice at that period 

 affording an ampler and better product than at any other. Bentley 

 contends that it is more bitter in March, and most of all in July, and 

 that at the former period at least it should be preferred. 



Description — The root is perennial, and tapering, simple, or slightly 

 branched, attaining in a sfood soil a length of a foot or more, and half 

 an men to an inch in diameter. Old roots divide at the crown into 

 several heads. The root is fleshy and brittle ; externally of a pale 

 hrovyn, internally white, and abounding in an inodorous milky juice 

 of bitter taste. It shrinks very much in drying, losing in weight about 



76 per cent.* 



very . „ „ 



yellowish, very porous, without pith or rays." A rather broad but in- 

 distinct cambium-zone separates the wood from the bark, which latter 

 exhibits numerous well-defined concentric layers. The root has a 

 bitterish taste. 



. Microscopic Structure— On the longitudinal section, especially 

 in a tangential direction, the brownish zones are seen to contain latici- 

 ferous vessels, only about 2 mkm. in diameter. These traverse their 



g off numerous lateral branches, which 



Within each of these 



zones in a vertical direction, givin 



However remain always confined ._ 



zones, the lacticiferous vessels form consequently an anastomosing net. 



We may say that the root is thus vertically traversed by about 10 to 20 



■concentric rings of lacticiferous vessels." They may be made beautifully 



evident by means of anilin-blue, with which a thin longitudinal section 



nifvi mPv "^ Tpn^vvoi/ or rpo^woi/ sig- 

 frMT^^- -^^ '^^^^ ' according to some, 



uwJ"^"^'^' ^ *lisease of the eye which the 

 1 ant was used to cure, or from tlie verb 



I'y.J,^'^^^^ ^^ fe^'fsch nnd von aller hamlt 

 A-re«to-e«, Augspurg, 14S8. cap. clii. 



Append' "\ ^■^'*-'*""* ^y ^fyi^ilrai, 284 (see 



*Thu8 5496 lb. of the washed root 

 afTorded of dry only 1277 lb., or 23-2 per 

 cent. — Information communicated by 

 Messrs. Allen and Hauburys, London. 



* Fur further particulars about tbeni, see 

 Vod, SiCzunijsber. der Wiener Akademie, 

 vi. ^1863) 668 with plate ; Ilanatein, Milch- 

 saftge/asse nnd verwandte Organe der Rinde, 

 Berlin, 18G4. 72. 73. pi. ix. 



