The pharmacopoeias recognize only the root, as being by far the most efficacious part. It should not be employed till full grown, when the aqueous juices have become milky and bitter, in the months of July to September, and either used fresh or when carefully dried.

It yields its active qualities to water by boiling, and is used in the form of decoction, extract, or simple infusion. A crystallizable principle has been extracted from the juice of the root called taraxacin. It is bitter and somewhat acrid. The root is slightly tonic, diuretic, and aperient, and seems to have a specific action upon the liver, exciting it when languid to secretion, and resolving its chronic engorgements, and is a popular remedy with many practitioners in this country and in Germany particularly, in derangement of the hepatic apparatus, and of the digestive organs generally. Bitartrate of potassa added to the decoction improves its aperient effect, and aromatics correct a tendency to griping or flatulence. This is a brief statement of its leading medical qualities. Then as a: