Is Kukuding a dandelion?

Dandelion is a very common thing in people's daily life. It has many uses. It can be used for sightseeing and can also be used as a Chinese medicinal material. Because dandelions themselves are bitter, many people mistake equally bitter things, such as bitter melon, for non-dandelions. Bitter melon is also called bitter vegetable. Although there are great similarities between the two, they are not the same thing. They each have their own characteristics.

Introduction of bitter vegetable

Sowberry (scientific name: Sonchus oleraceus L.), also known as sowberry, sonchus, and sonchus. Commonly known as bitter herb, it is a non-toxic wild plant that can be used as both medicine and food. It is a perennial herb with perennial roots. Rich in carotene, vitamin C, potassium, calcium, magnesium, phosphorus, sodium, iron, and other elements. It has the effects of cooling and detoxifying, improving eyesight and soothing the stomach, removing blood stasis and activating blood circulation, relieving inflammation and promoting diuresis, discharging pus, removing blood stasis and reducing swelling.

Annual or biennial herbs. The root is conical, vertically extending, and has many fibrous roots. The stem is erect, solitary, 40-150 cm high, with longitudinal ridges or stripes, unbranched or with short umbel-like or racemose branches at the top, all stems and branches smooth and glabrous, or the upper inflorescence branches and peduncles covered with capitate, stalked glandular hairs.

Dandelion Introduction

Dandelion's Latin name: Taraxacum mongolicum Hand.-Mazz. It is a perennial herb of the Asteraceae family and the genus Taraxacum. The root is conical, brown-brown and wrinkled on the surface. The leaf margins are sometimes wavy or pinnately fissured, and the base gradually narrows into a petiole. The petiole and main veins are often reddish-purple. The upper part of the peduncle is purple-red and densely covered with spider-like white long hairs. The inflorescence is capitulate, the involucre is bell-shaped, the achenes are dark brown, and the long pappus is white. The flowering and fruiting period is from April to October.

Dandelion is also known as yellow flowered dandelion, dandelion, and Chinese flower dandelion. A perennial herb of the Asteraceae family. The inflorescence is capitulate, and the seeds have a ball of white pappus. After the flowers bloom, they are blown by the wind to new places to give birth to new life.

Differences between Dandelion and Solanum

Different nutritional content

Dandelion: The young seedlings of dandelion contain protein, fat, crude fiber, carbohydrates, carotene, vitamins, as well as dandelion alcohol, mannitol, wax alcohol, bile alkaloids, tartaric acid, etc.

Dandelion: Dandelion is rich in vitamin A, vitamin C and potassium. It also contains iron, calcium, vitamin B2, vitamin B1, magnesium, vitamin B6, folic acid and copper. The specific element content is mainly water. Every 60 grams of raw dandelion leaves contains 86% water, 1.6 grams of protein, 5.3 grams of carbohydrates, and about 108.8 kilojoules of calories.

Different leaves

Dandelion: The leaves of dandelion grow in clusters and fall off when the flowers bloom. The leaves are generally oval or elliptical, not divided, and have blunt or pointed tips. The base of the leaves is wedge-shaped, with coarse serrations on the edges, dark green on the top and light green on the back. No hair covering.

Dandelion: obovate-lanceolate or oblong-lanceolate, obtuse or acute at the tip, with wavy teeth or deep pinnate-like fissures on the edge. The lobes at the top of the leaves are relatively large, triangular or triangular-shaped. The edges of the leaves are all serrated, flat or growing inverted, with small teeth between the lobes, gradually narrowing into petioles at the bottom. The petioles and main veins are reddish-purple and covered with spider-like white soft hairs.

Different flowers

Dandelion: The involucre of the dandelion flower is linear in shape and very small; the bracts are also very small; so the whole flower is also small. The corolla is bell-shaped, yellow, with an inconspicuous cyst on one side of the base, covered with long white hairs, and the corolla lobes are oval.

Dandelion: The overall color of the flower is white. The involucre of the flower is bell-shaped and light green overall; there are 2 to 3 layers of bracts. The outer involucral bracts are ovate, broadly membranous above the margins, pale green at the base and purplish red above.