THE AMERICAN BOTANIST. 27 



the plants are dry. This may be determinedjby the sense of 

 touch or by their becoming stiff and brittle. The time re- 

 quired for drying will vary from 3 to 7 days, depending upon 

 the plants and on the weather. Store the specimens in the 

 original folders in a dry place, until they are ready for mount- 

 ing. 



A Freak Dandelion. — While collecting near Iowa City 

 last spring I chanced upon a form of Taraxacum taraxacum 

 (L.) Karst, so abnormal as to deserve mention. In place of 

 the scape which all self-respecting dandelions rear aloft, this 

 "freak" had a stem , amply provided with leaves — not in 

 whorls, if you please, but alternate. The tip of the flower stalk 

 was bifurcate and bore two heads, rather smaller than the 

 average but perfect in other respects. Near the base of the 

 stem to still further emphasize the abnormality was an auxil- 

 iary peduncle tipped by an inmature head. There were several 

 plants with this leafy stem habit and all very similar in the 

 forked flower stalk. The soil was an ordinary black earth 

 quite moist but in no way noticeably peculiar and six feet 

 away in the same soil were normal plants of the same species. 

 A friend, who is somewhat severe in his strictures regarding 

 the activity of taxonomists and the resulting multiplicity of 

 synonyms, suggests that I describe this form as a new species 

 and call it T. paradoxa. However it may be of interest to 

 some to know that Taraxacum taraxacum (L.) Karst. (T. 

 oMcinale Weber. T. Dens-leonis Desv. etc., etc.,) does not al- 

 ways have a scape nor is its inflorescence always a single head. 

 — M. P. Somes. 



