Since it has been on the American continent since the 17th century at least, it is likely that early pilgrims and settlers brought the seed with them, either intentionally or unintentionally. There are reports that the dandelion has been used for centuries in Asia, the Middle East, and Europe, for a variety of purposes.
How did the dandelion come to North America?
Plant History how Dandelions came to North America. Many Native American peoples also developed their own uses of the dandelion after it naturalized. Since their introductionin to North America, dandelions have colonized the rest of the world and are just as abundant as other introduced species such as house sparrows and starlings.
Are dandelions still used today?
Dandelions are also a highly nutritious plant and have been and are still used as herbal remedies and as medicines. The introduction of the dandelion into North America is a wonderful lesson in history and also sheds some light on a plant that was once regarded as staple in early colonial life.
What is a dandelion?
Dandelions can be thought of as foundation plants for a group of people who had not yet found their own foundation in a new and overwhelming place.
Are dandelions invasive?
Biology Everyone knows the tough and determined dandelion. The Taraxacum officinale, or the common dandelion, is undoubtedly the most easily recognizable plant in America. It makes its home from coast to coast, and, depending on how you feel about it, it is either seen as a persistent, invasive weed, or a beneficial, lovely, little yellow flower.
Where do dandelions grow?
Both types have naturalized and growing dandelions are now found across the country, especially in disturbed soil such as croplands, construction sites, along roadsides and, of course – lawns.
What is a dandelion plant?
Dandelion Plant History And Facts. To most gardeners, dandelions are pesky weeds that bully their way into well-maintained lawns or flower beds. However, dandelion plant history tells us that until fairly recently, the familiar meadow flowers were welcomed and highly valued for their nutritional and medicinal value.
Why are dandelions important?
Medicinally, dandelion roots and leaves were used as a tonic to remove toxins from the bloodstream, acting as a gentle diuretic to improve the function of the digestive system.
What are the health problems that dandelions cause?
Ancient physicians didn’t know much about nutrition and vitamin deficiencies, but they realized that dandelions helped with a host of problems, including kidney, stomach and liver disorders, skin irritations, heartburn, gall bladder problems, diabetes, arthritis, anemia, constipation, toothaches, fevers, survey, and even warts and dandruff.
What trees filled the forests before they were cleared for fields and fuel?
But little direct evidence exists to prove which tree species filled the forests before they were cleared for fields and fuel. Swamp-loving plants, such as sedges and tussocks, are the fossil survivors, not delicate leaves from hardwood trees.
How did Elliott determine the species of leaves?
Elliott carefully peeled apart hundreds of leaves stuck together by mud and layered like a pile of sticky notes. Washing the leaves in a variety of chemical baths helped Elliott determine the leaves ' structure and species.
Where do the three dominant tree species found in the fossil forest leaves still exist today?
The three dominant tree species found in the fossil forest leaves still exist today in the Northeast, but in different proportions and in different places, Elliot said.
What transformed the Northeastern forests?
European settlers transformed America's Northeastern forests. From historic records and fossils, researchers know the landscape and plants are radically different today than they were 400 years ago.
Where were fossil leaves discovered?
Researchers from Franklin & Marshall College in Lancaster, Pa. , discovered the fossil leaves while investigating the lingering effects of milldams. The thousands of small dams — which powered mills, forges and other industry — changed the water table, altering the plants growing nearby and eventually changing the landscape from wetlands to deeply incised, quickly flowing streams.
How did Elliott determine the species of leaves?
Elliott carefully peeled apart hundreds of leaves stuck together by mud and layered like a pile of sticky notes. Washing the leaves in a variety of chemical baths helped Elliott determine the leaves ' structure and species.
Where is the fossil site in Pennsylvania?
The fossil site is a muddy layer packed with leaves from hardwood trees that lived more than 300 years ago along Conestoga Creek in Lancaster County, Pa . The muck was laid down before one of Pennsylvania's 10,000 mill dams, called Denlinger's Mill, was built nearby, damming the stream and burying the mud and leaves in sediment.
Where do the three dominant tree species found in the fossil forest leaves still exist today?
The three dominant tree species found in the fossil forest leaves still exist today in the Northeast, but in different proportions and in different places, Elliot said. Sign up for Scientific American ’s free newsletters.
What transformed the Northeastern forests?
European settlers transformed America's Northeastern forests. From historic records and fossils, researchers know the landscape and plants are radically different today than they were 400 years ago.
What was the name of the area where the Native Americans lived before the arrival of the Europeans?
People lived in the area called New England long before the first Europeans arrived. The lives of these Native Americans—part of the Algonquian language group—would be forever changed by the arrival of English colonists.
When did the French and Dutch start colonizing New York?
From there, the French founded Quebec in 1608, then the Dutch started a colony in 1609 in present-day New York. While Native Americans resisted European efforts to amass land and power during this period, they struggled to do so while also fighting new diseases introduced by the Europeans and the slave trade.
What was the area before John Smith's voyage?
This map was created by National Geographic, for the book Voices from Colonial America: Maryland , 1643-1776, to demonstrate what this area was like before John Smith’s voyages as well as the routes of his voyage. Until John Smith's exploratory voyages of the Chesapeake Bay in 1608 and 1609 opened the region to European settlement, the land belonged to the Piscataways, Choptanks, and other Algonquian peoples, as it had for thousands of years. Choice land on the eastern and western shores of the bay was snapped up by colonists and turned into large English farms.
What was the Treaty of Tordesillas?
On June 7, 1494, the governments of Spain and Portugal agreed to the Treaty of Tordesillas, which divided their spheres of influence in the "New World" of the Americas. Grades. 6 - 12+.
What did Native Americans call their home?
Native Americans called the land of the southeast their home for thousands of years before European colonization. The settlement of the Carolinas brought about a drastic change to their lives.
Where did the Spanish invade?
The invasion of the North American continent and its peoples began with the Spanish in 1565 at St. Augustine, Florida, then British in 1587 when the Plymouth Company established a settlement that they dubbed Roanoke in present-day Virginia. This first settlement failed mysteriously and in 1606, the London Company established a presence in what would become Jamestown, Virginia. From there, the French founded Quebec in 1608, then the Dutch started a colony in 1609 in present-day New York. While Native Americans resisted European efforts to amass land and power during this period, they struggled to do so while also fighting new diseases introduced by the Europeans and the slave trade.
Which countries established colonies in North America?
Britain, France, Spain, and the Netherlands established colonies in North America. Each country had different motivations for colonization and expectations about the potential benefits. Grades. 3 - 12+.
How did the environment affect Native American settlement?
Impact of environment on Native settlement patterns: Geographical and environmental factors shaped the development of Native American societies, including their migration and settlement patterns throughout the United States. Some Native societies created innovations in agriculture, like irrigation, to help sustain permanent settlements.
What are the names of the tribes that settled in the Southwest?
Pueblos . A tribe of Native Americans who settled in the present-day American Southwest. Mississippians. Native American peoples who lived in modern-day Missouri and Illinois. Algonquians. Native American peoples of the east coast who spoke related languages. Hunter-gatherer.
What happened in the mid-1100s?
In the mid-1100s, there was a severe drought and the core of Chaco culture fell apart. Much of the area around Chaco lost population, and in 1160, violence in the central Mesa Verde peaked. Slightly more than a century later, everyone left that area, too.
When did Native Americans first arrive in the Southwest?
From the days they first arrived in the Southwest in the 1800s, most anthropologists and archaeologists have downplayed evidence of violent conflict among native Americans.
How many human remains were destroyed by blows to the head?
Writing in the journal American Antiquity, Washington State University archaeologist Tim Kohler and colleagues document how nearly 90 percent of human remains from that period had trauma from blows to either their heads or parts of their arms.
What is the mythology of Native Americans?
There's a mythology about the native Americans, that they were all peaceful and in harmony with nature - it's easy to create narratives when there is no written record.
Where did the conflict in Southwest Colorado begin?
The episode of conflict in Southwest Colorado seems to have begun when people in the Chaco culture, halfway between central Mesa Verde and northern Rio Grande, attempted to spread into Southwest Colorado. From 1080 to 1130, the Chaco-influenced people in Southwest Colorado did well.
How long ago did bison spread to North America?
Last month, she and her colleagues published a study showing that bison spread into North America over the Bering Land Bridge about 135,000 years ago. (The bridge has disappeared and reappeared over the millenniums as the climate changed.)
Where did the first human beings come from?
The oldest fossils of anatomically modern humans, found in Africa, date back about 200,000 years. The ancestors of Europeans, Asians, and Australians did not expand out of Africa until somewhere between 50,000 and 80,000 years ago, according to recent studies. But other kinds of humans might have made the journey to North America much earlier.
What was the reason for the bones and rocks found on the mastodon?
The bones and rocks rested on a sandy flood plain by a meandering stream. The researchers argued that these couldn’t have been brought together by a violent current, and that people must have carried the rocks to the mastodon.
What would happen if California's first settlers weren't modern?
If California’s first settlers weren’t modern, then they would have to have been Neanderthals or perhaps members of another extinct human lineage. “It poses all sorts of questions,” said Thomas A. Deméré, a paleontologist at the San Diego Natural History Museum and a co-author of the new study.
How long ago did humans move south?
After several thousand years, as glaciers receded, modern humans were able to move south.
When were the mastodon bones found?
In 1992 , construction workers dug up the mastodon bones while clearing earth to build a sound barrier along Route 54 in San Diego County. A team of paleontologists from the museum spent the next five months excavating the layer of sediment in which they were found.
When did humans first smash mastodon bones?
If early humans really did smash those mastodon bones 130,000 years ago , scientists will have to rethink how humans came to the Americas. For decades, archaeologists have searched North and South America for the oldest evidence of occupation. Last year, Canadian researchers reported that bones of caribou and other mammals found in ...