Dandelion and plantain

With dandelion four features together form a clear picture: a basal rosette of deeply toothed, mostly hairless leaves; hollow, unbranched and leafless flower stalks; exactly one yellow flower per stalk; white milky sap in leaves and stalks. Some yellow-flowered daisy-family plants such as hawk's-beard or cat's-ear look similar, but have branched stems, several flowers per stem or hairy leaves – and they are not dangerously poisonous.

With plantain the most important feature is the combination of parallel lengthwise veins and the flower spikes on long, leafless stalks. Ribwort plantain has narrow, lance-shaped leaves and short, cylindrical spikes on grooved stalks; broadleaf plantain broad, oval leaves with a short stalk and long, narrow spikes. If you tear a leaf across, the tough veins remain as threads.

Dandelion's bitter compounds sit mainly in the milky sap and increase as the leaves get older. Young inner leaves before flowering are mildest. Soaking in cold water dissolves some of the bitterness, brief blanching even more. Plantain is rather savoury, slightly mushroom-like in taste, but becomes tough over time.

The most dangerous trap is leaf rosettes without flowers in early spring. Autumn crocus and lily of the valley also sprout then, with smooth, parallel-veined leaves. Autumn crocus is deadly poisonous. Its leaves are broader, glossy, fleshy and grow as a tuft without a leaf stalk from the ground, in spring often with a seed capsule in the middle. Plantain grows as a flat rosette with strong ribs on the underside of the leaf and has flower spikes. Anyone who cannot see these differences reliably should only collect plantain once the spikes are there.

With dandelion, ragwort (e.g. common ragwort) is a serious look-alike in spring, whose young rosettes have lobed leaves. It contains pyrrolizidine alkaloids, which damage the liver. Ragwort has no milky sap and later branched stems with many small yellow flowers. That is why the milky-sap test belongs to every dandelion harvest.

Both plants grow where people are: lawns, path edges, meadows. That is exactly where spraying, fertilising or dog walking often happens. Choose unsprayed meadows and gardens away from roads and paths, and cut the leaves just above the ground instead of pulling out the whole plant.

If poisoning is suspected – for example after eating a rosette that might have been autumn crocus after all – do not wait for symptoms. Autumn crocus acts with a delay; symptoms may appear only hours later. Call 112 at once (in Austria also 144) or a poison information centre, bring plant remains, do not induce vomiting.

Dandelion belongs to the daisy family. Anyone allergic to this plant family should avoid it. The milky sap can irritate sensitive skin. Dandelion is also a diuretic; when taking medication, pregnant or with kidney disease eat only small amounts and ask a doctor if in doubt.

Because both plants grow close to the ground, the hygiene rules apply especially: wash thoroughly, and where the water is not reliably clean or the site is unclear, better cook them.

Dandelion and plantain can be found almost everywhere and for many months – also in the city or in your own garden. They are ideal for practising identification by several features, because you can watch them all year. In a supply crisis they bring fresh greens to the plate when there is otherwise only tinned food.

Like all leafy plants, however, they provide hardly any energy. And without flowers in early spring, when the risk of confusion is greatest, you only collect them if you really know the differences from autumn crocus and ragwort.

Almost everything of dandelion is edible: young leaves, open flowers (without the bitter green base) and the root, which used to be dug up in autumn, roasted and used as a coffee substitute. You should only dig with the landowner's permission.

Ribwort plantain is traditionally used as a home remedy, for example by placing a crushed leaf on an insect sting. This is traditional knowledge, no substitute for medical treatment – with an allergy to insect stings the emergency call is what counts.