I'm going to have to step away from the dandelion fluff thread for a while, but big thanks to everyone sharing their names, and know that my future will definitely involve a dandelion spreadsheet leading to some kind of summary infographic 😆
@eclectech I was told, that in Spanish (mainland Spain) it's "dientes de león" which is... lion tooth :} Sadly, no relevant wiktionary entry found.
Btw, in Lithuanian it sounds like "pūkas". The same word used for early fluff of the bird before growing decent feathers. Or something in the shape of cotton linter.
@KasTasMykolas That (or translations of it) seems to be the name in a few places across Europe for the dandelion plant, but a lot of places have different names for it once it goes to seed (quite often regional as well as national, from what I can tell).
Edit: Oh! And there's a similar in France for the fluffy feathers, specifically the egret there I think. (thank you!)
@eclectech well, plants tend to have very peculiar regional or even traditional names across the countries :) Basically, getting back to the roots of the language itself and describing things around.
@eclectech I never understood what the "clock" means: do they show the time?
In German it's "Pusteblume" (blow-flower), the equivalent of blowball.
In French, we say "aigrette", a word coming from egrets and their fine white feathers: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aigrette It's a word for different seedballs like this.
In botanical language, it's a "pappus" https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pappus_(botany) from ancient Greek/Latin pappos/pappus = old man with a long beard. Also used for different plants.
@NatureMC@eclectech When I was a child, we used to blow on the dandelion seed head and count how many puffs of breath it took to blow away all the seeds. That, supposedly told you the time. (e.g. three puffs equals 3 p.m.) Of course it didn't actually work but it was a fun game.
@eclectech some parts of Scotland, a “pluff”. Some interesting names for the dandelion itself (inc. stalk)….”bumming pipes” and “pish the bed” 😳 Just took this on Friday evening.
@DigitalDruid Pish the bed is the perfect translation of our French pissenlit (the name of the whole plant, lit = bed: piss en lit). As dandelion comes from Dent-de-lion, the "tooth of the lion" (form of the leaves).
It was one of the most important herbal medicines against kidney and urinary problems, therefore the popular name.
@fifilamoura In France, the green is a popular salad. Sautéed briefly with garlic in a pan, they make a fine side dish vegetable that can also replace all wild greens in Italian cuisine. The young closed buds can be pickled as capers ersatz (even more delicious). With the open flowers, we make a medicinal liqueur, good for digestion. It tastes like old herbal liqueurs from monasteries.
@NatureMC@iuveaene Oh, I was just popping back to ask that! In parts of the UK the individual seeds are known as fairies (when they're flying around) and I wondered if the lion tooth was possibly the component part (edit: ah, just seen the French, possibly the whole plant).
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