16 THE AMERICAN BOTANIST 



time this lone riower went to seed, prodnciniL^ to my surprise 

 a dandelion-blow as large as a tennis-ball. Then the truth 

 dawned upon me that I had actually discovered the fabulous 

 blue dandelion ! 



Of course, the thing to do was to wrap the blow in a 

 piece of gauze and save the seeds. But, alas, procrastination 

 is the thief of blue dandelions! By the time I got around to 

 doing it, the blow had fallen (that is, the blow had blown), 

 and only one small seed remained. The next summer neither 

 the seed nor the original plant came up, and the blue dandelion 

 was lost to the w^orld. 



The following year, while touring in the Berkshires, I 

 came upon a field of dandelions in seed. There were no 

 fllow'ers, it was true, but there could be no mistaking the lily- 

 like leaves and the tennis-ball blows. Stopping the car, I 

 eagerly crammed my pockets full of the precious seeds. On 

 my return home, 1 planted a whole bed of them, and was 

 overjoyed to have them all come up. 



But this plant is a biennial. I should have to wait until 

 the following June for the flowers. All summer I tenderly 

 tended the bed. In the fall I matted it well w'ith straw^ In 

 the spring the plants were still alive. Oh, joy ! Tiny buds 

 appeared. They grew^ and grew% and finally the longed-for 

 day arrived. They burst into flower — bright yellow^ ! 



Nothing further occurred in my quest until June, 1918, 

 when I was stationed at Fortress Monroe, \'^irginia. Walk- 

 ing along Buckroe trolley-line one day, near Old Point Com- 

 fort College, I found a small clump of blue dandelions in full 

 bloom. I was not to be cheated this time, for these really 

 were blue ; I saw them in flower. In a few- davs thev would 

 be in seed, and then I would return and my (|uest w^ould be 

 at an end. 



