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
USS Dandelion (1862) July and 17 August, and from 7 to 21 February 1864 accompanied an expedition up St. Johns River, Florida. "Dandelion" sailed from Charleston 2 July 1865 and arrived at New York a week later. She was decommissioned there 14 July 1865, and sold 15 August 1865. USS Dandelion (1862) USS "Dandelion" (1862) was a steam tugboat used by the Union Navy during the American Civil War. In addition to towing, she was used by the Navy to patrol navigable waterways of the Confederacy to prevent the South from trading with other countries. "Dandelion", a steam tug, was built as "Antietam"