Description

Catsear (Hypochaeris radicata) is a common weed, often mistaken for Dandelion (Taraxacum officinale) amongst which it often grows.

It has a basal rosette of leaves, arranged flat to the ground. Leaves are oblanceolate (lance shaped but more oblong) are hairy and irregularly lobed, not as sharp or deeply lobed as Dandelion and often quite rounded at the tip. They are 3-25 cm long and quite hairy.

Catsear stems are solid 15 – 60cm tall, arising from the centre of the rosette of leaves. Sometimes stems are unbranched but mostly they’re branched. Stems are mostly leafless but occasionally a leaf or two will pop out (hey, we’re all individuals, right>), but have small, scale-like bracts and fine hairs on them. A central vein that runs the length of the underside of each leaf.

The taproot of Catsear is very strong and often branched.

The next question is ‘how to tell Catsears from Dandelions‘?

Catsear leaves are hairy and lobed but not as deeply nor as sharply as Dandelion. They have a more rounded tip too.

The flowers look similar and the only way to tell at a glance is that Catsear flowers are usually flatter than Dandelion’s. Beneath them is the most distinctive feature. Dandelions only have a single, unbranched, stem, while Catsears have a thinner, wiry stem that may be branched, especially near the flowers. This means that Catsear usually has multiple flowers per plant, Dandelion only has one.

Dandelions have a hollow stem that bleeds bitter, white latex when broken. Catsear has a solid stem and any latex isn’t as abundant as Dandelion’s.

I’ve not yet come across a branched Dandelion taproot but Catsear taproots are often branched

There you go. If you mix up the two it won’t be fatal and you’ll still get a feed but if you’re looking for Dandelions for their medicinal properties, you won’t be happy.

Medicinal uses

I’d heard of some folk uses for Catsear from people I’d met over time but it was a little hard to find any information about them. None of my usual herb books had entries under Catsear, Hypochaeris or False Dandelion. I turned to the net to confirm what I’d heard anecdotally and even then, there was only the most general information. Scientific papers either yielded most of what is here or horribly complex chemistry that is beyond yours truly. Some of those that I found were about animal testing and I try to avoid that, except fro analysis of plant constituents. Who can support torturing poor critters? Not I. Even the AI summary on Google gave inconsistent results when queried for the same thing multiple times,

The two most active ingredients are the sesquiterpenes confertin, scopoletin, which have been assessed in laboratory conditions as being the active ingredients from the anti-inflammatory aspect.

The flowers contain luteolin and other flavonoids. Luteolin is wonderfully useful fro our eyes as it accumulates on the macular disc, reducing inflammation there and helping with macular degeneration and other eyesight problems. I discovered this when researching Dandelions and assume it’s the same here (same chemical, related plant, almost identical flowers).

The bitter compounds in Catsear (including sesquiterpenes and terpenoids) all stimulate digestion, bile production and elimination of wastes from the body, so its easy to see why the plant is a digestive tonic. They are also why the plant is effective in some cases of liver and gallbladder problems gallstones. Our friends, the bitters also stimulate appetite, so we can use those in Hypochaeris as a digestive tonic for sluggish digestion and poor assimilation.

Helping the liver is key to reducing rashes and skin inflammations, as our overworked liver is responsible for metabolising and eliminating inflammatory compounds such as histamine. Even though I didn’t see it listed anywhere in my journey, I assume that this property makes Catsear useful for hay fever too.

That’s all of the effects that I’ve understood and proven for myself either directly from this plant or extrapolated from other, similar plants and constituents. I’ll keep adding more as I learn it, so check back here occasionally – you (and I) might be surprised at what I dig up!

Preparing and using Catsear

Every part of Catsear is edible and lacks the distinctive bitterness of Dandelion but can be prepared in similar ways.. The old leaves can be stringy and bitter while the young ones are soft. If you grow Catsear in your garden, cover the rosette of leaves while they grow. This blanches them and removes any trace of bitterness.

Our friend is grown as a garden green in a few countries like Greece and Japan. Eat the young leaves raw in salads (makes a nice addition to a cheese sandwich too). They can be cooked but then become like pretty well any other cooked leafy green. Steaming preserves some of their individuality. The petals have been used in wine and my favourite bit is the young flower buds, eaten raw – good for my eyes too! The roots can be roasted and ground as a coffee substitute or steamed as a root vegetable.

Stems can be eaten in a pinch, while the root can be almost sweet sometimes. The root is often dried, ground and roasted as a coffee substitute.

This website has a recipe for Catsear flower Jelly that might interest you.

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Other herb pages on Ligaya Garden

We cover a lot of ground on many herb related topics here on our website. There are whole pages devoted to different topics as well as frequent posts. Some of the links are –

Garden Herbs

Wild Herbs

Making Remedies

Mushroom medicine

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