Burdock has a large taproot, about 12 inches long, fleshy, the outside blackish-brown or grayish-brown, the inside light in color and spongy in the center. It is to be collected in the fall of the first year. The roots must be washed, split lengthwise, and carefully dried. Drying causes the root to lose about four-fifths of its weight, and to become scaly, and wrinkled lengthwise. Sometimes the bases of the leafstalks remain at the top of the root in the form of a small, white, silky tuft. The odor of the root is weak and unpleasant. The seeds are oblong, curved, flattened, and angular, dark brown and sometimes spotted with black, and have no odor. These should be collected when ripe or nearly so. =Imports and prices.=—About 50,000 pounds of lappa or burdock root are imported annually, and the best root is said to come from Belgium, where great care is exercised in its collection. The price of the root ranges from 3 to 8 cents per pound, and that of the seed from 5 to 10 cents. DANDELION. _Taraxacum taraxacum_ (L.) Karst. (_Taraxacum officinale_ Weber.) [Illustration: FIG. 3.—Dandelion (_Taraxacum taraxacum_ (L.) Karst). (An unusually fibrous root.)] =Other common names.=—Blow-ball, cankerwort, doon-head-clock, fortune-teller, horse gowan, Irish daisy, yellow gowan, one o’clock. (Fig. 3.) =Range and habitat.=—Dandelion is distributed as a weed in all civilized parts of the world, and in this country is naturalized from Europe. With the exception of the South, it is very abundant throughout the United States in fields and waste places, and it is especially troublesome in lawns and meadows. [Illustration: FIG. 4.—Dandelion root, 16 inches long.] =Description.=—The dandelion is so well known a weed, especially in lawns, that it scarcely requires a description, almost everyone being familiar with its rosette of coarsely toothed leaves, golden-yellow flowers, and round fluffy seed heads. It is a perennial plant of the chicory family (Cichoriaceæ), and it may be said to be in flower throughout almost the entire year. In spring the young leaves are collected and used for greens or salad, but the part employed in medicine is the root. The flowering stem of the dandelion is usually longer than the smooth, shining green, coarsely toothed leaves, reaching a height of from 5 to 10 inches. It is erect, smooth, naked, and hollow, bearing at the summit a solitary yellow flower head, which opens in the morning and only in fair weather. The entire plant contains a white, milky juice. =Part used.=—As already stated, the root of dandelion is used medicinally. It is a large taproot, sometimes 20 inches long, thick and fleshy, dull-yellow or brownish on the outside, white inside, practically without odor, and bitter. (Fig. 4.) Dandelion is often used as a tonic in diseases of the liver and in dyspepsia.