174 TYPES OF BRITISH PLANTS 
than they were worth. Like a good many other methods 
of adulteration in popular stories, this seems to labour 
under the objection that the genuine article is cheaper 
and less trouble.) 
I must not leave the Dandelion without calling your 
attention again to its beautiful device for seed dispersion. 
The tiny bristling calyx, which takes the place of a ray of 
leaves, has here admirable use, for the bristles become, as 
you know, feathery and light, and are hoisted up by the 
growth of a long beak or snout at the end of the fruit. 
You must often have found a ripe dandelion head, and 
puffed them off on their adventurous journey, the heavy 
seed and the light balloon of the down combining to 
secure safe and steady transit. When the seed falls, the 
parachute action of the feathers keeps it point downwards, 
and at least gives it the best possible chance of safe 
planting in the kindly earth. Then, when it has reached 
a crevice, the wind that shakes the feathery plumes 
works the seed deeper and deeper in the soil. 
The Coltsfoot is a member of the family which requires 
a special mention, for it is one of those plants that, in 
their haste to take advantage of the spring, send up their 
flowers at the earliest moment, without even 
waiting for the leaves to grow. One may find 
aS <p, them in plenty on any clay soil, but I do not 
COLTSFOOT 
FLOWER. 
know why so many botanical books speak of 
wet fields as the chief habitat, for a railway 
cutting through the clay is dry enough, but 
they spring up there in the greatest numbers. 
In fact, it has always been a problem to me 
to explain their rapid appearance in such 
places. I have in mind one field at this 
moment where I had never seen a coltsfoot 
