Every morning you can find me outside with a bowl picking the day's crop of greens. It's the best kind of vegetable garden, growing with absolutely no meddling from me. To be honest, I would probably mess it up anyway. Dandelion leaves have long been known to be good for rabbits. My rabbits go crazy for them. Feeding greens is a part of my anti-woolblock regime.
Most of the information I could find about dandelions refers to human consumption, but it probably isn't too far off base for rabbits either. Here are some interesting facts about the little dandelion leaf.
- Dandelions rank in the top 4 green vegetables in overall nutritional value.
- Dandelions leaves are a diuretic. I did not know this, but find it interesting.
- The dandelion's scientific name, Taraxacum officinalis, means disorder remedy of pharmaceutical value.
- There is a website out there totally devoted to dandelions, http://mydandelionisaflower.org
Sources:
USDA Bulletin #8, "Composition of Foods" (Haytowitz and Matthews 1984)
Clare BA, Conroy RS, Spelman K. The diuretic effect in human subjects of an extract of Taraxacum officinale folium over a single day. J Altern Complement Med. 2009 Aug;15(8):929-34.
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