The Fascinating History of Dandelions

Summary

The Fascinating History of Dandelions: A Comprehensive Exploration

Hosts:

• Josh Clark
• Chuck Bryant
  Podcast: Stuff You Should Know by iHeartPodcasts

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Introduction to Dandelions

The episode begins with Josh and Chuck introducing the topic of dandelions, playfully referring to them with alternative names such as "Puffball Chuck" and "Blowball Jerry." (00:25) Josh humorously remarks, “We should probably explain them to everybody else because they probably think it's an in joke, but it's not at all.” They set the stage to exalt the dandelion, acknowledging that while some may dislike them, they are about to delve into the plant’s rich history and multifaceted roles.

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Botanical Characteristics

Chuck provides a detailed botanical overview of the dandelion, describing it as a plant native to Atlantic Europe extending to Siberia, existing for approximately 30 million years. He explains the structure, noting the rosette of short, ground-level stems and the slender, green hollow stalks that typically reach about eight inches in height. (02:32) Josh adds an intriguing fact about the dandelion's pappus, the parachute-like structure attached to each seed, which is remarkably efficient at keeping seeds aloft. Chuck enthusiastically shares, “I love pappy” (04:15), highlighting the unique aerodynamic properties that allow dandelion seeds to disperse effectively.

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Historical Significance and Uses

The hosts delve into the historical importance of dandelions, emphasizing their intentional introduction to North America by colonists rather than accidental migration. “The idea that Dandelions suck is a really recent development, especially compared to how long people valued and prized dandelions,” Josh notes (02:55).

Medicinal Uses:
Chuck discusses the long-standing medicinal applications of dandelions, referencing ancient Arabic physicians Razis and Avicenna from the 10th and 11th centuries who documented its diuretic properties (15:02). Josh further elaborates on its nutritional value, stating, “They have more vitamin A than spinach, more vitamin C than tomatoes” (18:50), and lists various compounds like flavonoids and triterpenes that contribute to its antibacterial and antioxidant properties (19:31).

Edible Plant:
The conversation shifts to culinary uses, with Josh mentioning the resurgence of dandelions in modern foraging movements, especially catalyzed by the COVID-19 pandemic. Chuck reminisces about historical recipes, including dandelion wine from the 1850s (24:08), and highlights international dishes like France’s Salade des Pissenlitz, which combines dandelion leaves with bacon (25:14).

Cultural Impact:
Josh and Chuck explore the etymology of the name "dandelion," revealing its French origins meaning "lion's tooth" due to its jagged leaves (12:20). They also touch upon its role as a "pot herb" and its cultural significance in various traditions, such as making wishes by blowing dandelion seeds (07:24).

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Environmental Role and Modern Research

Pollination and Ecosystem Benefits:
The duo emphasizes the ecological importance of dandelions, noting their continuous flowering cycle that supports pollinators year-round. Chuck mentions, “They’re rich in nectar packed with it. So bees, butterflies, basically any kind of pollinators love dandelions” (13:20). Josh adds that dandelions provide essential nutrients to other plants by bringing up minerals from deep within the soil through their extensive taproots (42:06).

Modern Scientific Studies:
Josh and Chuck discuss recent research validating ancient medicinal claims. A 2015 Canadian study found that dandelion extract can block UVB radiation (19:52), while a 2016 Danish review suggested its potential in stimulating insulin production for blood sugar control (20:16). They also reference a 2020 study from the University of Windsor demonstrating dandelion root extract’s ability to induce apoptosis in cancer cells (21:13), highlighting its promising role in modern medicine.

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Dandelions vs. Lawns: The Great Divide

Historical Shift in Perception:
The episode explores how dandelions transitioned from a prized plant to a ubiquitous lawn weed. Chuck attributes this shift to British aristocracy’s penchant for manicured lawns in the 17th century, which American suburbanization further amplified post-World War II (34:37). Josh adds, “Once the Cold War rolled around, conformity was equated with safety” (35:29), explaining societal pressures to maintain perfect lawns.

Environmental Impact of Lawns:
Josh highlights the environmental costs associated with maintaining manicured lawns, stating, “Residential lawns in the United States make up 2% of the land but require more irrigation than any domestic agricultural crop” (38:34). Additionally, he points out that homeowners use up to ten times more pesticides per acre for lawns than farmers do for crops, exacerbating environmental degradation (38:56).

Dandelions as Environmental Allies:
Chuck and Josh advocate for reducing lawn mowing and allowing dandelions to thrive, noting their benefits in pollinator support and soil health. They mention Minnesota’s Lawns to Legumes program, which incentivizes homeowners to replace mowed lawns with pollinator-friendly plants (41:16).

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Innovative Uses: Dandelions as a Source of Natural Rubber

One of the episode’s most surprising insights is the dandelion's potential as a natural rubber source. Chuck recounts the Soviet Union’s efforts during World War II to cultivate Kazakh dandelions for rubber production, which provided a sustainable alternative when traditional rubber supplies were cut off (29:35). However, despite their hardiness and minimal environmental impact, dandelions did not yield rubber competitively compared to natural rubber trees. The advent of synthetic rubber from petroleum further diminished interest in dandelion-based rubber (31:42).

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Conclusion: Rehabilitation and Future Prospects

Josh and Chuck conclude by reflecting on the dandelion’s journey from a valued plant to a vilified weed and the emerging efforts to rehabilitate its image. Modern scientific validation of its benefits, along with environmental movements advocating for diverse plantings over monoculture lawns, signify a potential resurgence in dandelion appreciation.

Chuck summarizes, “Is there anything dandelions can't do? I don't know,” (43:12), encapsulating the plant’s versatility and enduring relevance. He humorously adds, “But they can grant a child a wish,” (43:20), nodding to the whimsical cultural associations with dandelions.

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Notable Quotes

• Josh Clark (00:25): “We should probably explain them to everybody else because they probably think it's an in joke, but it's not at all.”
• Chuck Bryant (02:32): “This thing is about 30 million years old, native in sort of Atlantic Europe all the way to Siberia.”
• Josh Clark (02:55): “The idea that Dandelions suck is a really recent development, especially compared to how long people valued and prized dandelions.”
• Chuck Bryant (15:02): “In France, they're called apparently more than they're called the dental. They're called the pisenlit, which means pee, pee in the night.”
• Josh Clark (12:20): “The whole disorder thing is totally insensible if you ask me.”
• Chuck Bryant (29:35): “They literally started screening, like, thousands and thousands of plants.”
• Josh Clark (38:34): “Residential lawns in the United States make up 2% of the land but require more irrigation than any domestic agricultural crop.”
• Chuck Bryant (43:12): “Is there anything dandelions can't do? I don't know.”

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Final Thoughts

Josh and Chuck's deep dive into the dandelion reveals a plant of remarkable resilience and multifaceted utility. From its botanical intricacies and historical significance to its modern-day environmental benefits and surprising industrial uses, the dandelion stands as a testament to nature’s ingenuity. The episode not only educates listeners about the often-overlooked virtues of dandelions but also encourages a reevaluation of our relationship with these ubiquitous plants.

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This summary is crafted based on the transcript provided from the "Stuff You Should Know" podcast episode titled "The Fascinating History of Dandelions." All notable quotes include speaker attribution and timestamps for reference.

Transcript

[Chuck Bryant]

Welcome to Stuff youf Should Know, a production of iHeartRadio.

[Josh Clark]

Hey, and welcome to the podcast. I'm Josh, and there's Puffball Chuck, and there's Blowball Jerry, and they like to call me Monk's Head. And this is stuff you should know. Did you get those references?

[Chuck Bryant]

Uh, sure.

[Josh Clark]

Okay, well, we should probably explain them to everybody else because they probably think it's an in joke, but it's not at all. Number one, because we're about to share it with you. Number two, it's not really a joke. And number three, those are alternate names for dandelions.

[Chuck Bryant]

That's right. And we're going to be exalting the dandelion. Probably say a lot of times how great we think it is.

[Josh Clark]

Yeah. Sorry if you hate dandelions.

[Chuck Bryant]

Yeah. How it's unfairly maligned. And we want to thank Sarah Andrews from Idaho, because Sarah is a listener who sent this in.

[Josh Clark]

Nice. Very nice. Thanks a lot, Sarah. Every time I hear Idaho, I'm reminded of that silly T shirt that said Idaho, Utah. Do you remember that one?

[Chuck Bryant]

I never saw that one.

[Josh Clark]

What was that one? There was a company called, like, Dangerous T shirts or something like that, and they had, like, man, they were killing it with the crazy T shirts for a while in, like, the early 2000s.

[Chuck Bryant]

Was that, like, instead of saying coke, it would say, you know, poke or cocaine. Yeah, that kind of thing.

[Josh Clark]

Yeah. Kind of. Sometimes more original than that, but, yeah, they were coveted for a little bit among people who liked Incubus and stuff like that.

[Chuck Bryant]

I couldn't name an Incubus song, so that's not me.

[Josh Clark]

Okay, so let's get back to Dandelions. I don't know how we ever get off track. It's kind of strange, but it happens from time to time, and it just happened, Chuck. So let's stop it from happening right now.

[Chuck Bryant]

Right. Because dandelions, as you will see, have had a long, rich history that we're going to talk about in depth as a medicinal plant, as an edible plant, as a wonderful pollinator, and it was recast as a villain, as a weed to get rid of. But you need only look at the history of the dandelion, the fact that it was brought to North America by colonists to kind of underscore the fact that we wanted the dandelion here.

[Josh Clark]

Right. And it's important to say that they brought it here on purpose. I saw somebody point out, like, it didn't hitch a ride. It. It was, like, purposefully brought here. And the idea that Dandelions suck is a really recent development, especially compared to how long people valued and prized dandelions. I just find that fascinating.

[Chuck Bryant]

For sure. This thing is about 30 million years old, native in sort of Atlantic Europe all the way to Siberia. And in the Northern hemisphere, you're going to know a dandelion because between March and October, you're going to see these beautiful yellow flowers. You'll see some, what's called a rosette, which are these very short level ground stems that grow in a circular pattern and then these little slender green hollow stalks, you know, 2 to 20 inches. But usually, at least around here, the dandelions are, I don't know, like, 8 inches.

[Josh Clark]

Yeah, that seems about right. That's my experience as well.

[Chuck Bryant]

Yeah.

[Josh Clark]

So one of the other really impressive things about the dandelion is if you look really closely at the flower, each individual petal has a little. What becomes the part of the puff ball when the. When the flower seeds, it already is attached. And that thing is called a pappus. And at the bottom of the pappus is the seed. And the pappus itself is like this, like, parachute, essentially, that keeps the seed aloft and research into. I saw papi, but I like pappuses as the plural.

[Chuck Bryant]

Ooh, I love pappy.

[Josh Clark]

So it's found that they're actually phenomenal at keeping the seeds aloft. Like, they create a kind of vortex that, until it was seen when they started testing Pappy, was thought to be impossible.

[Chuck Bryant]

Yeah. And that vortex not only makes it travel up and out and away in such a way that if it was shaped any differently, it wouldn't do that, but if that little thing lands on water, that same vortex is going to form a little air bubble around it and protect it.

[Josh Clark]

Yeah. One of my prized possessions is this dandelion puffball in encased in resin, and it's like the real deal. And I've never understood how it worked, but it turns out that if you actually take a dandelion puffball and actually not just put water in it, but submerge it in water, the puff ball does not. It doesn't collapse. Isn't that nuts?

[Chuck Bryant]

It's amazing.

[Josh Clark]

I think so, too. So that's just one of the many amazing things we're going to reveal today on Stuff. You should know that.

[Chuck Bryant]

Did I wander into the wrong show?

[Josh Clark]

I know. Well, we should tell everybody. It's 10am and we usually record at once, so I'm a much different person.

[Chuck Bryant]

At 10am You're a news anchor, apparently. So I mentioned yellow they're not always yellow. They can be orange, they can be white, they can be kind of purpley peach. They open in the morning and close in the evening, which has given them the name the shepherd's clock. And they do that to preserve pollen and keep that pollen safe for the next day, which also makes it. And this is one of my favorite words, photonasty.

[Josh Clark]

Oh, that's a great word.

[Chuck Bryant]

Yeah. Plants open and close with the setting and rising of the sun. It's called photonasty.

[Josh Clark]

Huh. I saw like a time lapse. Actually, it wasn't a video. It was just a series of photos of the dandelion flower opening and closing over the course of the day. I found. I ran across a word from researching this that I'd never heard before that I absolutely love. Dandelions, like you said, are edible. They're used in cooking, they're culinary plant, which makes them a pot herb. One word, A pot herb. Isn't that awesome? What a great, homey, little, like, I just imagine hobbits using that word.

[Chuck Bryant]

Yeah, hobbits. And my wife.

[Josh Clark]

Oh, does she call them pot herbs? You've heard that before?

[Chuck Bryant]

Oh, yeah, yeah. She's. I mean, I told her we were talking about dandelions today, and she was just like, oh, are you gonna talk about this? This, this, this, this, this?

[Josh Clark]

Right. She's like, oh, the famous pot herb.

[Chuck Bryant]

It's also another kind of clock. You know, I already mentioned the shepherd's clock because of opening and closing at sunrise and sunset. But those little seed heads, they're called dandelion clocks. And that is from the old. You make a wish when you blow the dandelion and you scatter those seeds as sort of a long, rich childhood tradition. But apparently the number of puffs it takes to empty that thing is what time it is. So it can. I haven't tested this out. I don't know if this is rock solid science, but that's sort of a thing.

[Josh Clark]

Hmm. That's pretty neat.

[Chuck Bryant]

Yeah.

[Josh Clark]

And one other thing about those pappuses and the seeds that are attached to them, there's a long standing, I guess, kind of urban legend or maybe rural legend that they can travel up to 100 kilometers, 62 miles. And that does not seem to be the case, even though you'll see that stat absolutely everywhere, including some legitimate places. But Kyle helped us with this, our British buddy, and he found that a 2003 study, which is the most recent you can find on this, is that just 1 in 7,000 Pappuses travels more than 1km. So just leave 100km out of the whole equation.

[Chuck Bryant]

Yeah. And Kyle told us that because he's from England. But for our North American listeners, we're talking 320something feet if it's 100 kilometers and about three and a half feet for a meter.

[Josh Clark]

Yeah. And apparently 99.5% of all pappuses land just within 30ft of the parent plant, which is also 10 meters. So, yes, if you ever hear that a Pappas can travel 100km, you can be like, that's wrong. What you just said is wrong.

[Chuck Bryant]

I think like one did. And they framed that. Maybe that's the one you have in amber.

[Josh Clark]

Yeah, it's like that first dollar bill you make as a business, you put it into amber.

[Chuck Bryant]

Yeah. There's also a cool adaptation where after they flower, that little hollow stalk that the flower sits upon goes limp on the ground and is just sort of hiding there away from birds and stuff. And when they ripen up, they jump back up again and they're like, here we are.

[Josh Clark]

That's pretty cool. I think so too. Do you want to take a break and come back and talk about where they got their name?

[Chuck Bryant]

Let's do it.

[Josh Clark]

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[Chuck Bryant]

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[Josh Clark]

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[Chuck Bryant]

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[Josh Clark]

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[Chuck Bryant]

I love that.

[Josh Clark]

The reason they call it that is it's a reference to the deeply serrated jagged leaves. I guess somebody was like, that looks like a lion's tooth. And they lived in France and that's where they got the name dandelion.

[Chuck Bryant]

Yeah, and it's also, if you look at the botanical name, it really gives a good indication of what it was being used for back then. The genus name is taraxicum. And there are a couple of explanations here. I kind of like the second one. The first one is a Greek word for disorder, which is ataxia. But it also could have come from Arabic for bitter herb, which is terekshagog. And then when you combine bitter herb with the species name, which is. How would you say that?

[Josh Clark]

Officinal?

[Chuck Bryant]

I don't know, Aficionale. That is a word for monastery storeroom. So a bitter herb in a monastery storeroom basically is telling you, hey, we use this plant in a very productive way.

[Josh Clark]

Yeah, the whole disorder thing is totally insensible if you ask me.

[Chuck Bryant]

Yeah, I agree.

[Josh Clark]

So one of the other great things. So humans use dandelions, as we'll see, in a lot of different ways and have for a very long time. But our animal friends love dandelions too. Those flowers, even though they look kind of flimsy if you think about it. They're rich in nectar packed with it. So bees, butterflies, basically any kind of pollinators love dandelions, like you said. The reason the stalk falls to the ground after flowering and as the seed heads are developing, that's because birds love the little dandelion seeds. And one of the other things that's important about them too, is they. They basically flower and seed almost around, like the whole year, depending on where you live. So at times where there's not a lot of food sources for birds and pollinators, the dandelions there to kind of keep them going through the same, you know, late fall.

[Chuck Bryant]

Yeah, yeah. And I think it's one of the first guys to get going in the spring too, right?

[Josh Clark]

I believe so, yep.

[Chuck Bryant]

So we're going to get more in detail about, you know, how it's been eaten, but. Well, actually, let's save all that. Let's just tease it then and say it has long been eaten, is now being eaten again due to the sort of foraging movement happening in the culinary world.

[Josh Clark]

It's a great tease.

[Chuck Bryant]

I think that kind of kicked off in Covid when people are like, well, I can't go to the store. What can I eat that's in my backyard?

[Josh Clark]

I'll try dandelions. I've always wondered what they taste like.

[Chuck Bryant]

Bitter.

[Josh Clark]

So. Yeah, nice. So I think we said probably a couple times that people have been using dandelions for all sorts of reasons, not just as pot herbs for a long time. One of the earlier mentions we can find was in the Arabic world, a couple of physicians named Razis and Avicenna both wrote about some of the properties of dandelions and dandelion roots back in the 10th and 11th centuries. And most of what they were talking about was its use as a diuretic. And medicinally speaking, that's probably the most famous property that dandelions have, is they make you pee. And in fact, there's a couple of names that refer to that depending on where you are. For dandelions that refer to the fact that they make you pee, right?

[Chuck Bryant]

Yeah, that's right. In France, they're called apparently more than they're called the dental. They're called the pisenlit, which means pee, pee in the night. And a folk name in England is.

[Josh Clark]

Pissabed for the same reason.

[Chuck Bryant]

Yeah. And apparently it's all the potassium in there that's going to stimulate urination. And because of that, diuretics are used for a lot of things and, you know, medicinally now and historically, if you want to work something through your system and pee it out. Dandelions is a good way to make that happen.

[Josh Clark]

Yeah, and very famously, in the American Midwest, they're called Pee Pee Weeds. Aw, that's totally made up, I should say.

[Chuck Bryant]

Oh, that's not true either.

[Josh Clark]

No, I just made it up.

[Chuck Bryant]

Oh, okay.

[Josh Clark]

I got you. I got you back for the. What was the lateral gene transfer gospel group that you got me with?

[Chuck Bryant]

Oh, geez, I don't even remember now. It was that, but I've only gotten you once. The score is Josh 3000.

[Josh Clark]

Oh, man.

[Chuck Bryant]

There was a 16th century book, too. What was the name of that one?

[Josh Clark]

People call it Garden of Health because the full title of it is containing the sundry rare and hidden virtues of all kinds of simples and plants together with the manner of how they are used and applied in medicine for the health of man's body against diverse diseases and infirmities most common against men gathered by the long experience and industry of William Langham, practitioner of physic. That's the actual title of that book, which is why there's like. Yeah, we're just going to call it Garden of Health.

[Chuck Bryant]

I mean, Garden of Health really says what that says.

[Josh Clark]

I know. He didn't need all that extra stuff. That's like the introduction. I think he put the introduction in the title.

[Chuck Bryant]

Yeah, that's a little. Did it say the end at the end?

[Josh Clark]

Pretty much.

[Chuck Bryant]

This is from, like I said, the 16th century. And it talked a lot about all kinds of things they thought it could help back then. Toothaches, fevers, depression, even baldness. But they also talked about growing it alongside other vegetables and herbs in the garden. And you dug up this kind of cool fact. It's ethylene gas that they release. So if you actually grow dandelions or have dandelions growing near fruiting plants like tomatoes, they're going to ripen faster.

[Josh Clark]

Yeah. Isn't that neat?

[Chuck Bryant]

Super cool.

[Josh Clark]

Yeah, we're going to cover a lot of actually pretty cool little benefits, I guess, that they provide. But let's keep going with the tradition of using them medicinally, shall we?

[Chuck Bryant]

Sure.

[Josh Clark]

There's a guy named John Gerard who wrote a book in the 1630s, and he's like, hey, I want to contribute to this, too. I've found that dandelion strengthens the weak stomach, and which is important because actually, if you use the roots of a dandelion, it's a. It contains a lot of inulin, which is an important prebiotic for gut health. So John Gerard wasn't just Whistle and Dixie?

[Chuck Bryant]

No, not at all. It turns out they have more vitamin A than spinach, more vitamin C than tomatoes. They've got a ton of. We already mentioned potassium, but also a lot of calcium, a lot of iron, and then a lot of words that I can barely pronounce that you found that it's packed with, starting with flavonoids. That's the only one I had heard of.

[Josh Clark]

It has triterpenes, sesquiterpenes, phenolic acids, sterols, and coumarins. And they bestow things like antibacterial, antioxidant, anti inflammatory, hepatoprotective and antitumor properties. And you dug up a lot of ways that they actually help health, right?

[Chuck Bryant]

Yeah. So, I mean, we can talk all day about the ways that people thought it would help you back in the 16th century, but people might poo poo, something like that. But there have been modern studies. I'll just give you a few examples. There was a study from 2015 in Canada that reported that dandelion extract can block ultraviolet UVB radiation.

[Josh Clark]

That's crazy.

[Chuck Bryant]

When applied to the skin, it can also irritate the skin. So don't necessarily just take dandelions and start rubbing them all over yourself at the pool. There was a 2016 review of studies from a university in Denmark that suggests that dandelion extracts actually stimulates pancreatic cells to produce insulin. So it could potentially help control blood sugar.

[Josh Clark]

Right.

[Chuck Bryant]

And what about. There was one on the liver, too, right?

[Josh Clark]

Yeah. I said it was hepatoprotective, which means it helps the liver. And actually it goes in and just kicks butt in your liver. It slows the progress progression of fibrosis, which is scarring of the liver. And the extract actually inactivates the cells that cause fibrosis in the liver. And essentially your liver, as everybody knows, it can regenerate itself. Once the dandelion extract has gone in and stopped the fibrosis, the liver can heal. So it's incredibly helpful with protecting the liver from damage. I mean, that's nuts. It's almost like it was designed to do that for the liver. It's that effective.

[Chuck Bryant]

I do want to mention the cancer one because Emily had a very funny, very Emily line. There was a 2020 man. Why do I do that lately? 20. 2012. I did that on Tuesday.

[Josh Clark]

I do that a lot. Yeah.

[Chuck Bryant]

What is happening?

[Josh Clark]

I don't know.

[Chuck Bryant]

It's a study from the University of Windsor in Canada about dandelion root extract can induce apoptosis which is cell death in pancreatic and prostate cancer in test tube. And there are cells in the test tubes, potentially preventing their spread. So this is something Emily knew. And this morning she was like, yeah, it's so like modern American, at the very least, to take something that could actually help fight cancer and spray chemicals on it to kill it that cause cancer. And she stormed out of the room.

[Josh Clark]

Sometimes we have to learn the hard way. But it is reassuring that things seem to be coming full circle. You know what I mean?

[Chuck Bryant]

Yeah. I feel like people are getting a little more eyes open to stuff like that.

[Josh Clark]

Yeah, they're getting on board the dandelion train. So one thing about those studies that you said, they're essentially confirming to our modern tastes what the Chinese knew all the way back in 659 CE, people like Nicholas Culpepper knew in the 18th century, all these people wrote about this stuff and just how effective it was. And then now science is going in and saying these people were right and here's how it is effective. I think that's pretty cool. And in part because of that, the dandelion is being rehabilitated. But first, I think we need to mention, you said that it came by North America. I piped up on purpose, I think more than once, even. I was so excited about that. And it's possible it was actually on the Mayflower. It arrived that early. And they think that because of plant migration, as we talked about before, the dandelion may have spread ahead of Europeans as they entered further and further into the North American continent. And so Native Americans that they encountered may have already been using dandelions in some of their medicines.

[Chuck Bryant]

Oh, yeah, absolutely. They were drinking it in tonics. They were boiling it with fatty meats, which sounds disgusting.

[Josh Clark]

It does.

[Chuck Bryant]

It really does.

[Josh Clark]

Unless you're talking about something like collards with, like, ham hocks or something. That sounds okay. But in this case, I imagine a pot of boiling water with a skin of fat just bubbling at the top and some dandelion leaves floating around in it.

[Chuck Bryant]

And we'll talk about more ways you can eat it. But it's long been used in cordials and beers, like the dandelion root. You can grind it up and use it as a coffee substitute, kind of like chicory. So, you know, people were using it for medicine, they were using it for old kinds of folk remedies and foods and things, largely because, again, it was everywhere. It grows in not very good soil. It's considered a perennial because they can live well, because like you said, they're kind of growing year round, but they can live for more than 10 years if you don't mess with them.

[Josh Clark]

Isn't that neat?

[Chuck Bryant]

And kill them? Yeah.

[Josh Clark]

Yeah, I think that's pretty cool, too. One of the other things I saw there was a book called the Economical housewife from the 1850s that it might be the first recipe for dandelion wine. And people still make that today. And it's actually super easy. You just take some dandelion flowers, some water, eventually you add some sugar and some lemon, let it sit for a couple of weeks, strain it out, and then let it sit for another week and age, and you've got yourself some dandelion wine. And it sounds deliciously easy or maybe easily delicious, one of the two. But I'd love to try it. Have you ever had dandelion wine or dandelion beer or anything like that?

[Chuck Bryant]

No, not at all. I mean, it's definitely a thing. Ray Bradbury had a novel called dandelion wine from 1957. So it's something that's been enjoyed all over the world. In France, they use it. Sometimes they'll take the leaves and blanch them and spread them with bread and butter. It sounds like if there's not a Brooklyn restaurant serving dandelion toast at this point, then what is happening in our world?

[Josh Clark]

I don't know. It sounds like fairy toast, like the Australians love, but with dandelion leaves instead.

[Chuck Bryant]

Yeah, it's also, you know, just a salad, a salad green component. And like we said, it is very bitter. But it's used in all kinds of salad. Sometimes it's the only kind of leaf used in a salad. Sometimes it can be mixed in with other things. But in France, they have one called the Salade des Pissenlitz from that original name that's got bacon in it and dandelion leaves. It just, you know, sounds pretty good to me.

[Josh Clark]

Yeah, apparently that was a common dish during the Depression in America, too, because it was just cheap, you know?

[Chuck Bryant]

Yeah.

[Josh Clark]

And it sounds delicious, too. I say we take a break and we come back and talk about another surprising use of dandelion that I hadn't heard of until this. But you probably did because of Emily.

[Chuck Bryant]

No, I delighted her with that fact as well. So we'll be right back.

[Josh Clark]

Congratulations to Easterseals Southern California on their first place win for innovation in customer service at this year's Unconventional Awards by T Mobile for Business. Easterseals has used T Mobile 5G to create immersive VR development tools that aid people with autism in addressing transportation barriers. These tools are shaping the way safe and personalized skill building is delivered. And for that T Mobile congratulates Easterseals Southern California for their unconventional thinking.

[C]

Black Friday is coming. And for the adults in your life who love the coolest toys, well, there's something for them this year. Bartisian is the premier craft cocktail maker that automatically makes more than 60 seasonal and classic cocktails each in under 30 seconds at the push of a button. And right now Bartisian is having a huge site wide sale. You can get $100 off any cocktail maker or cocktail maker bundle when you spend $400 or more. So if the cocktail lover in your life has been good this year or the right kind of bad, get them Bartesian at the push of a button. Make bar quality Cosmopolitans, Martinis, Manhattans and more all in just 30 seconds. All for a hundred off. Amazing toys aren't just for kids. Get 100 off a cocktail maker when you spend 400 through Cyber Monday. Visit bartesian.com cocktail that's B A R T E S I A N.com cocktail tale.

[Chuck Bryant]

Attention parents and grandparents. Are you searching for the perfect gift for your kids this holiday season? Well, give the gift of adventure that will last all year long. We're talking about a guardian Bike, of course.

[Josh Clark]

Yeah, the easiest, safest and quickest bikes for kids to learn on. Your kid could learn to ride in just one day with no training wheels needed.

[Chuck Bryant]

I gotta say, my daughter has a guardian bike. I put that thing together no problem and I'm not even good at that stuff. And she loves it because they are designed especially for stability. They're low to the ground with a wide wheelbase, ultra lightweight frames and they offer superior control and balance. And I have seen it happen.

[Josh Clark]

Guardian bikes are also the only kids bikes designed and assembled in a factory in the usa, ensuring top notch quality and durability. And their holiday sales have begun. They're offering the biggest deal of the year, up to 25% off on bikes, no code needed plus free shipping and a free bike lock and pump with your first purchase after signing up for their newsletter.

[Chuck Bryant]

That's right. So join the hundreds of thousands of happy families by getting a Guardian bike today and visit guardianbikes.com to take take advantage of these deals and secure your holiday gifts today. Happy writing. All right, so Josh said that he hadn't heard of this cool fact. I hadn't heard of it. Emily hadn't heard of it. And I think it may be the fact of the podcast but dandelions are a source of natural rubber.

[Josh Clark]

Pretty cool. I would take issue with that. I think it has to do with the vortices over the pappy or the fact that they're pot herbs. All right, this one's good. It's up there. Maybe they're all tied for first. I don't know.

[Chuck Bryant]

But, hey, that means we got a good topic if there are several.

[Josh Clark]

That's right.

[Chuck Bryant]

Competitors.

[Josh Clark]

Yeah. And so not just any dandelion produces rubber or latex that can be turned into rubber. A specific type of dandelion. They figured out the Kazakh dandelion, which is native to the Eurasian steppes. How'd you like that? It's also called the Russian dandelion here in the United States. That specific one puts out enough latex that it gave rubber trees a run for their money during World War II, which we've talked about many times, America and Britain were like, we need more rubber for the war effort. And the Japanese control, essentially all of the rubber supply, were at war with the Japanese, so we better come up with something else quick.

[Chuck Bryant]

Yeah. So they literally started screening, like, thousands and thousands of plants. And I guess they were like, hey, if the. If the rubber tree can grow rubber, there's gotta be something else out there. The Soviets are the ones who said, try this Kazakh dandelion. And because of shortages during the wars, they said, here. Here's a bunch of seeds. And they sent a bunch of those Kazakh seeds. The Soviet allies at the time in the 1940s, and ultimately we used some of it. Russians, Americans, and Germans did produce rubber from dandelions. It's very hardy. It can be susceptible to disease, though, depending what kind of disease, but also grows everywhere and serves as a pollinator, and it doesn't deforest things. So the big problem, though, and I know everyone's like, oh, my God, is this the miracle we've all been hoping for with rubber? It just doesn't yield as much as the Russians said it did. And so it's not economically viable as long as the real rubber tree is around.

[Josh Clark]

They released some paper that overstated how much rubber can be gotten from the dandelion because they wanted to sound like big shots.

[Chuck Bryant]

Yeah.

[Josh Clark]

So the reason why we didn't just keep going with dandelion rubber research in trying to figure out how to increase yields is because in the meantime, people figured out we could make synthetic rubber from petroleum. It was almost as good as natural rubber, and it certainly was a good enough substitute. And we could just make batch after batch after batch rather than have to try to yield it from dandelions. So that fell to the wayside. And then by the time the World War II ended, we had access to natural rubber supplies from the. From the Southeast. Southeast Asia, I should say. And so all that kind of put dandelion rubber on the back shelf. But in the, what, 80, almost 100 years. Geez, since World War II. I remember when that was like, just like, that was firmly like 40 to 50 years in the past. And it just keeps getting further and further away. It's really awful. But we've kind of figured out in the interim that synthetic rubber, it's useful, but there's nothing that can match natural rubber for like, grip, heat, dissipation, all sorts of other properties. So we're starting to go back to look at sources for natural rubber, including ones that are more sustainable than the rubber trees, which require you basically deforest and then plant the rubber trees to create a plantation with dandelions. You don't have to do that stuff.

[Chuck Bryant]

No, you got a big field, you can have dandelions. And like I said, it grows. And it doesn't have to be great soil. You can grow it hydroponically without soil at all. You can grow it in the air, which is aeroponically. It's pretty amazing. And I think it's one of those things where, like, anytime you have a monoculture plant like that, like the rubber tree, it makes people a little bit nervous. Besides the deforestation, like, have anything ever happened, like some kind of weird blight and the rubber trees were just, you know, not a candidate anymore. You got dandelions kind of waiting on deck with their bat.

[Josh Clark]

Right. So it's kind of surprising that it went from this really prized plant in so many ways. Two, hated weed, especially in Europe and the United States. And you hit upon why it became a hated weed. You use the word monoculture. And the largest monoculture here in the United States are people's lawns. And for part of the aesthetic of the lawn, you cannot have dandelions breaking up that perfect unbroken sea of green grass. You got a dandelion popping up. The whole thing's ruined. Basically, that's the way people think of dandelions and lawns these days, or have since about the 50s, essentially, that beautiful yellow flower. Stomp it. Right? Dig it up.

[Chuck Bryant]

But yeah, that's what happened. And we've gone over this before, but just sort of as a quick overview, this is the kind of thing that came over from England starting in the 17th century, is when British aristocracy really started to get into these perfect sort of croquet. Croquet playing lawns, I guess, is what you would call them. And then in America, it was Post World War II when suburbanization really took hold. Lawnmowers really came into their own. Everyone was like, hey, we've got these great new chemicals that'll kill everything and make the grass grow really, really well. And it's just modern and tidy and good looking. And that really kind of transformed the United States. You know, like, keep up that lawn. Make a perfect green lawn if you want to keep your property value up. Everybody.

[Josh Clark]

Right. That's a big one. And Kyle also dug up another reason too, that once the Cold War rolled around, conformity was equated with safety. So if you weren't keeping your lawn trimmed like everybody else, what's going on with you? You're making me feel a little bit nervous because you're not conforming. You must be a red spy hiding out in suburbia basically. Right. And I think that's a really important kind of overlooked driver for things like perfectly manicured lawns and everybody having the same kind of thing.

[Chuck Bryant]

Yeah. And speaking of driver, the other I don't think we've ever mentioned a contributor to this Nice was in the 1950s. Golf started being televised. In 1957, you got golf on television for the first time. And people look at Augusta national and these golf courses that were beautifully manicured and aesthetically pleasing to the eye. And they were like, hey, I need to get some of that in my front yard. Maybe I can practice chipping some balls around in my front yard.

[Josh Clark]

Also, if you're sitting there thinking like, wow, I really love hearing these guys talk about grass, but I'd love to hear them have a dispute over it. You should go listen to how our Grassworks episode. It's actually a pretty good one. It's a classic Stuff youf Should Know episode.

[Chuck Bryant]

It totally is. But anyway, all that preamble about, you know, us poopooing lawns and why America did that brought us to this, which is weeds became enemy number one. And dandelions were maybe even near the top of that list.

[Josh Clark]

Yeah. There's a lot of reasons why, for all the reasons that they're valuable, the pollinators and other kinds of plants and that they can grow in marginal lands and basically everywhere is. It makes them an enemy as a weed. If you're trying to create a monoculture lawn. Right. So they can regenerate from like a 1 inch section of root, which means that if you cut a dandelion off at the. At even below ground level, it's like, good, you know, good try, pal. But it just sprouts right back up. You have to dig them up. And even after you dig them up, you might not get them, because one of the things that I didn't know about dandelions is I knew they grew from a taproot. You have to get that taproot up, or else it's just. Just futile. Yeah, but that taproot can grow, depending on the age of the dandelion, over a dozen feet. Meters, Four meters into the ground.

[Chuck Bryant]

Meters.

[Josh Clark]

Yeah. And that makes it really hard to get rid of. And so if you're like a groundskeeper for a golf course or something like that, you have to really keep up with the dandelions because they'll spread really fast, and they're really hard to get rid of once you do start trying to get rid of them.

[Chuck Bryant]

Yeah, for sure. And, oh, I gotta say this last fact from Kyle, because it goes back to the lawns, but this really kind of drives it home about how not great a perfect green lawn is for our society. There was a study in 2005. Residential lawns in the United States make up 2% of the land, but require more irrigation than any domestic agricultural crop.

[Josh Clark]

I've got one to piggyback that. The U.S. fish and Wildlife Service says that homeowners use up to 10 times more pesticides per acre than farmers use on their crops. So we're using this stuff, overusing it, and we're using it on stuff that's not productive land just to keep up with the Joneses so they don't think we're communist spies.

[Chuck Bryant]

Yeah. You know, I walk Gibson in the mornings, and there are the only lawns that he ever, like, rubs his face in are the most perfect green ones. And I know that it's because they have recently been sprayed. And he smells it and is trying to rub all in that stuff, and it drives me bonkers.

[Josh Clark]

Yeah, it's a. Like, I would love to just let my lawn. And you. Me too. Just go to, like, wildflowers, go to weeds. You know, just mow it. You keep it mowed, but at a higher height. But, yeah, you just let this stuff grow. And we would be completely. We would stick out like a sore throat from the rest of the neighborhood, so much so that our neighbors would be mad at us. That's how entrenched the idea of having a perfect lawn is still in the United States, depending on where you live.

[Chuck Bryant]

Yeah, for sure. And like no one around there even does, like permaculture and, you know, other options besides just letting it grow wild and crazy.

[Josh Clark]

No, it's nuts. So we definitely draw a line. So we're like, okay, we'll keep up with the lawn, but don't touch the, you know, the shrubbery, the perennials, the garden, essentially. Right. But people will hire the same company to like treat their lawn with chemicals, to spray their bushes and spray their gardens with chemicals to kill off the bugs. And then they have to go in and try to recreate the stuff that the bugs are doing for free, the services they're providing because you've killed off the bugs. It's. It's insane to me. So we definitely don't cotton to that.

[Chuck Bryant]

Yeah. Speaking of bugs, there was a scientific review in 2019 that found that the global mass of insects is falling at a rate of about two and a half percent per year. And dandelions is a high, high on the list of pollinators. Caterpillars love munching on them, moths love munching on them, and all those bees and butterflies love doing their thing on them. So even, you know, I'm not trying to shame people, but let's say you do like your lawn and everything, even waiting in the spring, like longer to cut it, even cutting it higher, letting the dandelions grow up a little bit before you start whacking them down. Even that minimal amount will help out a little bit.

[Josh Clark]

What's interesting is a non chemical way I saw to treat your turf grass for dandelions is to let your grass grow longer than you have been. Like cutting it at a higher mower height. Because as we talked about, dandelion leaves are so low growing that the grass will shade out and out compete the dandelions. So if you really do want to get rid of dandelions, but you don't want to use chemicals, that's a pretty good way to do it from what I've seen.

[Chuck Bryant]

Yeah, totally. Some states have actual programs. There's one in Minnesota called Lawns to Legumes, which is a great title. They launched that in 2019, where they just basically incentivize people to say, get rid of that lawn, put in flowering plants, put in beds. You can have a rebate if you have a pollinator friendly native wildflower scene at your house.

[Josh Clark]

Yeah, I didn't look up the amount, but I would guess at a minimum the rebate is worth a million dollars, Right? That'd be my guess. You Think so. There's a couple other things that I found that dandelions, I don't know if you looked at it or not, that they kind of provide services to the plants growing around them, including grass. Because as we mentioned, those taproots, they grow really deep. And as they're growing deep, they're actually accessing nutrients that other plants around them, again, including grass, the roots of those plants can't reach because it's too deep, and it brings those nutrients up toward the surface. And as the dandelion dies off, the other plants get to eat those nutrients that they otherwise wouldn't have had access to. And those same roots also aerate and loosen compacted dirt, too, which makes it easier for the plants around the dandelions to grow.

[Chuck Bryant]

Amazing.

[Josh Clark]

Is there anything dandelions can't do?

[Chuck Bryant]

I don't know. I mean, they're not super fragrant.

[Josh Clark]

No, that's true. They're pretty much useless in that sense.

[Chuck Bryant]

But they can grant a child a wish?

[Josh Clark]

They sure can, man. They sure can. I remember doing that so many times. I keep trying to do that with my dandelion puff head in resin, and it's not working.

[Chuck Bryant]

I don't have anything else, though. I'm kind of looking over the list here. I know we were kind of all over the place, but it's just sort of one of those episodes where it's like, well, here's a list of 100Amazing Things. And so sometimes those are a little tougher to organize.

[Josh Clark]

Yeah. But they can be pretty fun, too. I had fun, at least. How about you?

[Chuck Bryant]

I did, too. And that rubber thing? Are you kidding me?

[Josh Clark]

No. Since neither one of us has anything else about dandelions, then we're going to call it quits on this episode, which means we've just activated listener mail.

[Chuck Bryant]

You know, no listener mail today. Because what we're going to do is something we haven't done in a while is help, support and bring some attention to a great cause. Our friends from the Cooperative for Education, AKA Co Ed, whose mission it is to break the cycle of poverty in Guatemala through education. And we've been working with them for 15 years. And we got a new thing coming up with them, right?

[Josh Clark]

Yes, we do. So first, let me just explain. Over $1.3 million in contributions have been made to CO ED, thanks to our partnership with them at Stuff youf should know for 15 years. That's really good, if you ask me.

[Chuck Bryant]

That's incredible.

[Josh Clark]

Which means that 160 kids have been given, like, a huge leg up to escape poverty and create like, break intergenerational poverty and create literally like a new life for their entire family from that point on.

[Chuck Bryant]

That's right. You know, we went down there, I guess, 15 years ago when they invited us very early on in Stuff youf Should Know Canon.

[Josh Clark]

Yeah.

[Chuck Bryant]

In our history. And we went down to Guatemala and those shows. We did some shows on that. That trip and that visit, we get to actually hear Jerry speak, which is pretty exciting.

[Josh Clark]

Yeah.

[Chuck Bryant]

And they're just great that we've been working with them ever since. And the fact that the Suffusion army has raised 1.3 million bucks for them over the past 15 years is going to be a real proud part of our legacy. But we have a call to action, right?

[Josh Clark]

Yes. So you can join. We're starting a drive essentially right now.

[Chuck Bryant]

That's right.

[Josh Clark]

You can join the Cooperative, which is a program of theirs, for $20 a month, and you'll collectively sponsor a bunch of students in the Rise Youth Development Program, right?

[Chuck Bryant]

That's right.

[Josh Clark]

And so it's going to get spread out. You're going to be helping a bunch of kids at once, so you can feel good, like five times over with each monthly donation. And then in 2025, more than 11, 1100 students will be able to start school in rural Guatemala, which will be their biggest class ever. They need help to make that happen. Which is why we're saying, join the Cooperative.

[Chuck Bryant]

That's right. And as an incentive, if this is for you, if you set up your gift by Tuesday, December 3rd, then you are signed up for a chance to do a virtual hangout with Josh and I. We do this every year around the same time. It's always a lot of fun. We hang out with, I don't know, six or eight people all over the country, and they get to just, you know, ask us questions and tell us that we're cool or dumb or whatever. It's your chance to really hand it to us if that's what you're after.

[Josh Clark]

Right. Yeah. Hopefully don't do that, but sure. I mean, I guess if you've given to co ed, then you deserve to do whatever you want to us.

[Chuck Bryant]

That's right. So just go to cooperative4education.org that's the word. Cooperative f o r education.org and start giving now. A little bit goes a long way down there.

[Josh Clark]

Yes. And in the meantime, while you're looking UP cooperative for education.orgSYSK, you can also send us an email. Send it off to stuffpodcastiheartradio.com Stuff youf Should Know is a production of iHeartRadio.

[Chuck Bryant]

For more podcasts My Heart Radio, visit the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to your favorite show.