My friend spotted an unusual coffee table at the Portland Saturday market a few months ago. It was one of those knobby burl-type affairs topped with a sheet of glass. The identity of the creamy white wood mystified her.
“Dandelion root,” responded the furniture maker when she put the question to him.
“What?” she said. “Dandelions don’t have roots that big.”
“Nope. Normally they don’t,” he replied. “But then this here is Oregon dandelion root.”
She stalked off with scarlet cheeks, certain he was putting her on.