In defense of dandelions: Help the bees, don't wage chemical warfare on these 'weeds'
Different cultures know dandelions by different names: Pee in the Bed, Lions Teeth, Fairy Clock, Clocks and Watches, Farmers Clocks, Wetweed, Blowball, Cankerwort, Priests Crown, Puffball, Swinesnout, White Endive and Wild Endive. The name we know it by comes from Dents Lioness (medieval Latin) or Dent de Lion (French,) both meaning ‘tooth of the lion.’ A look at a leaf explains why.
The dandelion’s use as a medicinal herb was recorded by the ancient Chinese and later by Arabs, who, via the cultural cross-pollination enabled by the Crusades, taught Europeans about its benefits. Modern analysis reveals that dandelions are a good source of calcium, potassium, vitamin A, and vitamin C. The calcium content alone is impressive; a serving of dandelion greens has as much calcium as half a cup of milk. The long taproot of the dandelion reaches down to the rich subsoil which other plants can’t reach, hence the rich mineral and vitamin content. But there is a downside: ‘Pee in the bed’ is a direct translation of the French pissant en lit, so named because the high calcium content activates one’s kidneys, and if one is a deep sleeper…
When the Mayflower arrived there were no dandelions in North America. Fifty years later they were everywhere, having been introduced by European immigrants whose cultures used dandelions as part of their regular diet and who wanted a reliable source of greens early in the spring. In return the Algonquian Indians sent the British a bag of crab grass (just kidding.) Today, if they were not so widely available and considered ‘weeds’ to be chemically removed, we would probably be farming them as a valued leaf and root vegetable and a dietary supplement.
Many plants are specialists, attracting specific insects, but the dandelion, like Burger King, is a generalist – open to everyone, affordable to all with no long lines, and although it might not be the most exciting food, almost everyone likes it. Thus dandelions open at 9 in the morning and shutter down in the evening; they close up shop on rainy days because of a shortage of customers and the danger of the nectar and pollen getting diluted; the yellow flower is in the middle of the color spectrum and the short tubular flowers ensure that nectar is available to all visitors. But there isn’t much of it, so those who can get something better somewhere else probably will.
Besides offering a veritable smorgasbord to most pollinators, for the beekeeper the first dandelion flower (which in York County normally appears in the last week of March) provides a good indication of the future strength of the honey bee colonies in four weeks’ time when the prime nectar flow begins.
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Here’s how it works. A female (ie. worker) honey bee spends three days as an egg, six days as a larva, and then pupates for twelve days before emerging as an adult. For the next four weeks she does household duties until, for the last two weeks of her life, she leaves the hive to forage for pollen, nectar, water and propolis. Thus a worker who emerges from her cell in the last week of March, when the first daffodils are in bloom, will start foraging in the last week of April, which is when the main nectar flow normally starts here in York. Consequently the greater the amount of capped pupae (called brood) in the hive when the first dandelion is in flower, the greater the potential for the colony to build up stores of nectar and pollen during the main nectar flow, which in turn stimulates the queen to increase her laying, the nurse bees to feed the subsequent larvae, and the foragers to collect nectar, store the excess and cap it, at which point we call it honey.
People often ask what they can do to ‘save the bees.’ The answers don’t necessarily involve keeping honey bees themselves so much as creating an environment in which all pollinators can flourish, because it is more than honey bees that are at risk. One such way is to allow the dandelions to bloom, and if this is somehow intolerable, at least don’t spray them with chemicals - the foragers can take those chemicals back into the hive as they collect nectar and pollen, and that closed environment thereby becomes toxic, and probably fatal, to the entire colony.
When it comes to dandelions, some see a weed, some see a wish, and beekeepers see the future.
Jeremy Barnes of York County is an apiarist of some 22 years standing who is increasingly attracted to managing honey bees for the benefit of ’the girls’ rather than for the beekeeper, and to developing an environment attractive to all pollinators.
This article originally appeared on York Daily Record: In defense of dandelions: Help bees, don't wage chemical warfare
