LIFE HISTORIES OF FAMILIAR PLANTS 



to be so early in the field ? Well, you can depend 

 upon it, that such early blossoms are the product 

 of a previous season's growth. After some con- 

 siderable difficulty, I have grubbed up with my 

 stick a piece of a plant which is shown in Fig. 74 

 (Plate 51). A glance at this photograph explains 

 the whole matter. The coltsfoot develops its main 

 stem under the ground in a horizontal position, 

 where it branches in all directions. At frequent 

 intervals it does more than this, it sends down a 

 special staple branch in a vertical direction, which 

 sometimes extends three or four feet into the 

 earth. Thus it becomes a network of branches 

 firmly staked in the earth at intervals. 



That is the coltsfoot's method of meeting the 

 farmer when he comes hoeing and spudding. 

 These underground branches contain rich stores of 

 starches and building materials, so that immediately 

 the temperature begins to rise, the flowering stems 

 whose buds spring from the upper side of the 

 underground stems, begin to peep above the 

 soil. Observe them as they appear. Each stem 

 is clothed with scales provided with woolly 

 hairs to give warmth and throw off moisture. 

 Also, the scales are of a purplish colour ; which 

 colouring, as I have pointed out in Chapter IV., is 

 especially active in absorbing all the available heat 

 of the scanty simshine of the early months of the 

 year. One after another the scaly stems sprout 

 through the soil, and at the first glimpse of sunshine 

 they suddenly grow taller, and then the summit of 

 each one reveals a fringed yellow head. 



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