Taraxacum officinale and is derived from the word "opificina", later "officina", meaning a workshop or pharmacy. The flowers are used to make dandelion wine, the greens are used in salads, the roots have been used to make a coffee substitute (when baked and ground into powder) and the plant was used by Native Americans as a food and medicine. Dandelions are harvested from the wild or grown on a small scale as a leaf vegetable. The leaves (called dandelion greens) can be eaten cooked or raw in various forms, such as in soup or salad. They are probably closest in character to
Psidium guineense some are sweet enough to eat as raw fruit. They make good fruit preserves. This species has been crossed with its relative, the common guava. The resulting fruits are small, but numerous. The wood of the plant is hard and sturdy and can be used as lumber and to make durable objects like tool handles. The bark has tannin and can be used in tanning. There are a few medicinal uses for the plant. Extracts of the bark and roots are used to treat diarrhea in Brazil. Extracts of the leaves are used to ease the common cold in Costa