THE AMl'.RRAX HUlANlSl 93 



tne fruiting heads appear less dense and not so bright vvliitc: 

 turthermore the flowering heads ap[)ear a brighter yellow in 

 color. The leaves, too, seem to be more deeply incised. These 

 differences, however, are soon found not to be constant. The 

 common dandelion when crowded or on poor soil is often as 

 small as its red-seeded relative, with as thin a head (^f fruits. 

 The flower color as well a> the degree of incision of the leaves 

 are \ er\- xariable. In fact, it is often impossible for the 

 writer to distinguish a medium-sized common dandelion from 

 a red-seeded specimen until the plants have mature fruit, 

 l^ven the bract character used by Britton and Brown, the re- 

 flexed j)osition of the outer bracts in the common dandelion 

 and their spreading or ascending position in the other species 

 absolutely fails in most cases. However, the large sized 

 plants are invariably the common species. 



It was soon noted that the red-seeded species ceased to 

 flower as summer came on, so that tlie only dandelion in blos- 

 som at East Lansing after the middle of June were the other 

 species. On the other hand the first to blossom were the red- 

 seeded sort. During the latter half of May the two are both 

 in full bloom. As the cool weather of Autumn comes on the 

 red-seeded species again begins to bloom, being the last to 

 show its flowers in that season. It is interesting to speculate 

 ui)on the relation of the cooler weather to the blossoming of 

 tiie red-seeded sort, as throwing light on the probable origin 

 of the species. It seems that the species was first described 

 from the cooler parts of the Russian Empire. The original 

 home of the common dandelion is clouded in the mists of an- 

 tiquity, and can perhaps never be found, so completely has it 

 become a companion of man in his wanderings. 

 Michigan Agricultural College, 

 Department of Botany. 



