04/24/2023
Thank you to all those who have been limiting mowing frequency and making a difference for Wildlife, allowing locally native flowers across the Northern Hemisphere, including Dandelions (in Eurasia), to provide vital early forage for Pollinators 🦋 🐝
Dandelions (genus Taraxacum) are just one of a wide range of native wild flowering plants that flower early across the planet, they are in the family Asteraceae, which consists of species commonly known as dandelions found in Eurasia and introduced into North America in the mid-1600s where they have spread across the continent, the two commonplace species in the wider world, T. officinale and T. erythrospermum, were introduced from Europe and now propagate as wildflowers in those regions. Both species are edible in their entirety. The common name dandelion comes from French "dent-de-lion", meaning "lion's tooth". Like other members of the family Asteraceae, they have very small flowers collected together into a composite flower head. Each single flower in a head is called a floret. In part due to their abundance along with being a generalist species, dandelions are one of the most vital early spring nectar sources for a wide host of pollinators that themselves are critical to pollination of later flowering plants.
