Contractions. - Tarax. Trx.

Taraxacum Dens-leonis. Nat. ord., Compositae.

Synonym. - Leontodon Taraxacum.

Fig. - Flora Hom., pl. 62.

Dandelion. For. names: German, Lowenzahn; French, Dent de Lion, Pissenlit; Italian, Tarapaco, Macerone; Spanish, Diente de Leon.

Habitat. - Throughout Europe. A very common weed.

Flowering time. - All the summer.

Parts employed. - The entire plant.

Characters. - A thick tap root, black on the outside, very bitter. Leaves radical, varying from linear-lanceolate and almost entire to deeply pinnatifid, with broad triangular lobes usually pointing downwards, terminal one larger, obovate or acute. Peduncles 2 to 8 inches high, involucral bracts linear, often with a tooth on the back below the point. Achenes not compressed, striated, the beak two or three times as long as the achene.

Time for collecting. - Spring, before the commencement of flowering.

Preparation. - Tincture, corresponding in alcoholic strength with proof spirit.

Reference to Horn. Proving. - R. A. M. L., v.

Proper forms for dispensing. - φ and lx, Tincture only. 1 and upwards, Tincture, Pilules, or Globules.

Average loss of moisture, 75 per cent.