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blowball grow all across the U.S. Their wide handiness makes them a wonderful nutrient source for backyard foragers , who utilize the tender leaves in salad , soup , and more . When foraging for blowball , it ’s significant to make certain you know what you ’re search for . So , are there other plant that expect like dandelion forget ?
Yes , there are several plants that look like dandelion leaves . These plants are called “ delusive dandelions ” and , even though none of them are poisonous , it can still be helpful to know how to secernate between them and the real mountain .
Wild Lettuce leaves
What do real dandelion leaves look like?
Derived from the French ‘ gouge - Delaware - lion ’ , meaning lion ’s tooth , blowball have bright sunny yellow-bellied flower caput , tenacious tender stems , and spiky green leaves . Ironically , the blossom heads do n’t provide much help when it comes to telling dandelions and delusive dandelions apart . It ’s the leaves that allow the most clues .
Dandelion leave are bright yellow - special K to inscrutable green in colour . The control surface of the leaves is smooth with the edge being toothed and pointy , curl somewhat upwards toward the center of the leafage . Dandelions have basal leaves , imply their foliage only mature at the base of the plant . You wo n’t find any leaf on the stems of a existent blowball , only on plants that expect like blowball leave of absence .
The stems themselves have small fuzzy bristles running up and down them . This chip in them a hairy feeling , but not a prickly one . They do n’t hurt to touch . The stalk are also vacuous , and trimming them reveals a milky blank sap that some false dandelions do not have .
Wild Lettuce leaves
Where do dandelions grow?
Another thing that can aid you key dandelion is hump where they wish to grow . These smoke are incredibly hardy , growing just as well in the cracks of a sidewalk as in a big open battlefield . Dandelions like moist soil , and even though they will still grow in shady spots , they prefer to raise in direct sun . So you ’re more potential to see them in pasture , meadows , and lawns than in hard wooded areas .
It ’s not unusual to see lone blowball here and there , but you ’ll commonly discover clusters of dandelion bequeath growing together in group . If no efforts are made to restrain their growth , blowball can overtake a grassy area in a topic of a few years , as these plants multiply each time of year . leave behind them undisturbed is an excellent agency tore - dotty your lawn .
Overall , dandelions are some of the easiest flowers for amateur foragers to identify . Every part of the plant is eatable , from the roots to the blossoms . And whiledandelions are n’t a great source of nutritionfor pollinator , like bees , they are incredibly beneficial for us human .
Wild Lettuce leaves
What are dandelion leaves used for?
unlike parts of the blowball are used for different thing . The roots can be roasted and brewed to make a coffee backup . The flowers can be dried and used in teas . This plant ’s tender leafage and stem are pure for eating sore in salads , but they can also be sauteed and serve as a side dish or added to soup to raise their savory flavour .
blowball get out underpin healthy liver function byboosting the production of glutathione , a potent antioxidant . Because it increase antioxidant activity , blowball has been used as an herbal remedy to fight inflammation for decades . Dandelion is also a born water pill , as is show by one of its alternative name : “ wet - a - seam ” .
Dandelions can be harvest at any clock time , from the minute they stock up right on through to pass when the leaves die for the season . But dandelions smack better in spring when their leaves are full of wet and sugars .
Sow Thistle leaves
As the leaf mature , they become ruffianly and sulfurous . Of of course , these bitter leave alone arewonderful for improving digestion . So even though senior parting are less palatable , dandelion ’s medicinal timber only amend over time .
Which plants look like dandelion leaves?
Now that you ’ve get a good idea of what dandelion leaves attend like , as well as what they can be used for , let ’s try some other plants that search like blowball leaves . Again , even though these dandelion lookalikes are n’t the genuine deal , they are not poisonous . So if you do pluck a false dandelion instead of a literal one , it may not savour as good , but it wo n’t be a lethal mistake .
Wild Lettuce
When observed irrespective of the plants themselves , wild lettuce leaves look a lot like dandelion leaves . They ’re prospicient and prickly with toothed edge that curve inward more or less . But if you range them between your fingerbreadth , you ’ll notice they feel blind drunk and crisp . crazy lettuce folio truly do feel a lot like lettuce , whereas dandelion leaves are easy and more tender .
to boot , wild lucre grow upright , with foliage wrapped around the stalk , unlike dandelion leaves , which are arranged in a little potato form at the base of the plant . Sometimes , the stalks have a purplish tinge . Like dandelions , bust the stalks of wild lettuce makes them leak out white sap . baseless lettuce blooms in tardy spring to early summer , produce yellow flush that greatly resemble dandelions . However , unlike dandelion , barbarian lettuce may create multiple blooms on a single angry walk .
you’re able to find wild lettuce from midsummer through October . This industrial plant likes a snatch of moisture , so you often see it growing near Creek , ditch , and rivers . It ’s best to harvest this plant early on in the season , but it ’s just as eatable later , even if the leaves are a scrap tough .
Hawkweed leaves
Sow Thistle
Sow thistles are plants that look like blowball folio , but they also face a caboodle like wild lettuce . These edible weeds produce serrated , crisp leaves that grow up and down its foresighted stalks . The leaves are very prickly to the touching , and because they ’re so stiff , they can scratch up your skin if you brush up against them . A far shout from the dandelion ’s soft leafage .
Like wild lettuce , sow thistles produce white sap . They also uprise multiple bloom at the tops of their marvellous stalks . If you take a closer look at the stems these efflorescence arise from , you ’ll see that , like dandelion , they ’re quite hairy .
Sow thistle likes to grow in partial to full sun . Each industrial plant farm around 25,000 seeds , so these peak often spring up in groups . Search roadsides , eatage , and along the edges of wooded area from early spring to midsummer to find this plant .
Flatweed leaves
Hawkweed
The biggest grounds hawkweed is confused for real blowball is because it , too , has basal foliage . The foliage of this plant stays very closely to the ground . Its yellow daisy - like prime bloom at the last of tall , leafless stems . At first glance , hawkweed could easily be mistaken for dandelions . But a closer looking reveals that they really do n’t look much likewise at all .
Hawkweed leafage are small and oval in shape , with liquid edge , not toothed unity . The leaves are not bright or deep green , but rather a sage - y greenness with white bottom . The Earth’s surface of the leave is foggy , much like lamb ’s ear .
This weed can be found in lowland areas that last out funny and moist . Hawkweed blooms from late bound to autumn and can be harvested then . industrial plant produce five or more flowers at a time , so there ’s plenty to scrounge .
Flatweed
Of all of the plants that look like blowball leave-taking , flatweed is perhaps the most convincing . Also call cat ’s ear , flatweed grow basal leaves just like dandelions do . But the farewell are lobed , not toothed . They ’re also somewhat stiffer than blowball leave-taking , though not as stiff as raging lettuce or sow thistle , and they ’re covered in petite hunky-dory hairs .
One little detail that fructify these two apart : flatweed ’s lank heyday shuck are more flexible than dandelions . They ’re more resilient . If you run your script over them and prove to rough them up , they jounce back . If you were to do the same to dandelions , the stalks would break because they ’re hollow and thus more delicate .
Flatweed grows in all the same place dandelions grow — in lawn , lea , and other wide - open spaces . These weeds can be harvested throughout the summer , and will also produce a whitish blackjack when the stems are snapped in two .
What’s the best way to harvest dandelions and their lookalikes?
How you glean reckon on what you want to do with the plant in interrogation . Will you utilise the whole plant , the roots and all ? Or do you just involve the leaves ? If you plan on putting all share of the plant to apply , expend a trowel to dig it up . cautiously remove any dirt and debris from around the roots , and be sure to fill the hole in when you ’re done .
If you ’re going to be using the leaves alone , take your scissors and snip them off carefully near the shank , or another point of ancestry . Flower heads can also be nip this way , and it can actually upgrade novel emergence if the efflorescence are old , though they wo n’t try out as salutary . take parts of the plant instead of the whole matter allows it to keep produce , so you’re able to preserve to harvest throughout the season .
Whether you come home with blowball leaf or plants that look like dandelion leaves , lave them gently in cold water , smear them dry with a towel , and hive away them in pliant udder in the fridge . Remember to avoid in high spirits - traffic areas when foraging , and be sure to use your harvest within a week while it ’s still unused .
It takes some practice to get the bent of it . But with a little prison term , you ’ll soon be able to tell real dandelion will apart from industrial plant that look like dandelion leave .
