Find your dandelion power

Since I am on a roll with lawn weeds, that most of us have been trying to irradicate for decades, I thought this would be a good time to spot light the pernacious Dandelion.  It is a bit more distinguished using it's Latin name, Taraxcum officinale, don't you think for our most common lawn spurge. 
Our little pop up weed has 6x the amount of vitamin A and twice as much calcium, phosphorus and iron than garden lettuce.  Here's a little comparison side by side for one lb. of each:
                                         Dandelion                          Lettuce
Protein                              12.3 grams                         3.8grams
Calcium                             849mgs                             194mgs
Phospherus                        318mgs                              63mgs
Vitamin A                        16,970IU                          5,060IU
Iron                                      14mgs                             3.4mgs
Thiamin                                .85mgs                            .14mgs
Riboflavin                             .65mgs                            .26mgs
Niacin                                 3.8 mgs                            .6 mgs
Vitamin C                        163.0mgs                         57.0mgs

Pretty enlightening don't you think?  Along with all these nutritional benifits Dandelion offers many medicinal benifits as well.  Here's just to name a few, leaves can be eaten in salads and have a mild diuretic action.  Roasting of the roots makes a good coffee substitute and retains it's medicinal tonic for the liver.  The juice (milky plant latex) can be applied to warts while the stems can be made into an infusion, which helps lower blood sugar. One last finding, magically it was believed to bring wisdom through hard times, I think this is a good place to leave it!