RADIX TARAXACL 393 



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

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

 with as Taraklishagu7i in the works of the Aral3ian 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 Uth century. 



The name Dens Leonis, an equivalent of which is found in nearly all 

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

 to have been bestowed on this 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 good soil a length of a foot or more, and half 

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

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

 brown, 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.* 



Dried dandelion root is half an inch or less in thickness, dark brown, 

 shrivelled with wrinkles running lengthwise often in a spiral direction ; 

 when quite dry, it breaks easily with a short corky fracture, showing a 

 very thick white bark, surrounding a woody column. The latter is 

 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, especiall}' 

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

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

 zones in a vertical direction, giving off numerous lateral branches, which 

 however remain always confined to their zone. Within each of these 

 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 



1 Perhaps from Tpa^wov or -rpo^wov sig- ^ Thus 5496 lb. of the washed root 

 nifying Wild Lettuce ; according to some, afforded of dry only 1277 lb., or 23 "2 per 

 from Tdpa^ii, a disease of the eye which the cent. — Information communicated by 

 plant was used to cure, or from the verb Messrs. Allen and Hanburys, London. 

 Tdpa(T(Tw, I dUturh. * For further particiilars about them, see 



2 Herbarius zu tcutsch und von alter handt Vogl, Sitzungsber. der Wiener Akademie, 

 treiUeren, Augspurg, 1488. cap. clii. vi. (1863) 668 with plate ; Hanstein, Milch- 



' The Physicians of Myddvai, 284 (see mftgefasneundverwandteOrganeder Rinde, 

 Appendix). Berlin, 1864. 72. 73. pL ix. 



