What is a pissenlit?
By Chelsie Vandaveer
February 1, 2002
killerPlants Tendrils: ~~1~~2~~3~~4~~5~~
Suggested Reading—>Click here.
The dandelion has had a long medicinal history. Its herbal uses, especially its strong diuretic action, have given the plant several names. In French, the plant is called, pissenlit, which roughly translates to its old vulgar English name, pissabed, a caution on the use of this herb. When a preparation of dandelion diuretic was needed, the apothecary shop offered it
under the name, Urinaria.
The apothecary shops also offered preparations under other names: Caput monachi (solitary head) and Rostrum porcinum (pig's snout). These names may have been allusions to the portion of the plant used, in this instance, the flower and the closed bud. The old herbals assume that these decoctions were common knowledge and often failed to record the preparation or the specific uses.
Two of the apothecary names make reference to the antiquity of the plant: Cichoreum Constantinopolitanum, the chicory from Constantinople (the city of Emperor Constantine), and Taraxacon. Taraxacon is almost identical to the modern botanical name for the dandelion, Taraxacum officinale.
The Greek, taraxis, meant disorder and the dandelion was used medicinally in Greece and Rome. But Taraxacon as used by the herbalists appears derived from the name given by Arabic physicians, tarakhshaqun, meaning the wild chicory or a type of endive. Taraxacon is most likely the source of the generic name given the dandelion by Friedrich Heinrich Wiggers in the late 1700s.
Did you know the United States Navy had a ship named the USS Dandelion that played a prominent role during the Civil War? To learn more about the USS Dandelion, click on the link:
http://www.history.navy.mil/photos/sh-usn/usnsh-d/dandeln.htm 
killerPlants Tendrils: ~~1~~2~~3~~4~~5~~
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