THE AMERICAN BOTANIST 109 



The honor of the discovery belongs to Mr. Roger Sher- 

 in.'in Hoar, an authority on constitutional law, who in the 

 >uniincr of 1913. was accidently confronted by the lirst blue 

 (laiuiciion of u liicli it is recorded that mortal eyes ever look- 

 ed upon. Withholding tidings of his treasure trove until he 

 could startle Ijotanists all over the world by presentation (;f 

 specimens raised by himself, Mr. Hoar carefully preserved 

 and planted the seeds. P)Ut tf") use his own words: " the next 

 summer neither the seed nor the orginal plant came up and 

 the blue dandelion was Uxst to the world." 



Disappointed but not discouraged, Mr. Hoar with the 

 true spirit of scientific investigation, did not relax his pur- 

 suit until, in three widely separated parts of the country, he 

 had found other specimens of the blue dandelion. His ac- 

 count of the extraordinary discovery was tlien submitted to 

 the Atlantic Monthly but was not given to the world until the 

 editor, realizing the great importance of the subject, employed 

 what appeared to him to be the best method of convincing 

 himself of the existance of blue dandelions. And in a letter 

 to me he declares he "has both seen and handled them." 



As Mr. Hoar, warned by his first experience, has now 

 taken all necessary precautions to ensure successful propaga- 

 tion, there should i)e available now a quantitv of seed for 

 presentation to eager amateur and scientific wild flower col- 

 lectors. Those who are interested are advised to write the 

 editor of the Atlantic Monthly, Boston, Mass. 



