section_path: Varieties/Dandelion
section_name: Dandelion
paragraph_text: Dandelion
  
  Dandelion milk contains latex. The latex exhibits the same quality as the natural rubber from rubber trees. In the wild types of dandelion, latex content is low and varies greatly. In Nazi Germany, research projects tried to use dandelions as a base for rubber production, but failed. In 2013, by inhibiting one key enzyme and using modern cultivation methods and optimization techniques, scientists in the Fraunhofer Institute for Molecular Biology and Applied Ecology (IME) in Germany developed a cultivar of the Kazakh dandelion (Taraxacum kok-saghyz) that is suitable for commercial production of natural rubber. In collaboration with Continental Tires, IME began a pilot facility.