THE COLTSFOOT 



arranging to begin business, the coltsfoot is ex- 

 hibiting its white fluffy heads of seeds above 

 the tops of the developing grasses and other 

 plants. Not uncommonly these are mistaken for 

 the heads of dandelion seeds, but, although the 

 dandelion is early with its blooms and seeds, the 

 coltsfoot has generally scattered its seeds far and 

 wide on the strong winds before the dandelion 

 has well put forth its flowers. 



After fertilisation, the little fruit or " seed " at 

 the base of each floret rapidly ripens, and on its 

 apex appears a hairy pappus, similar to that of 

 the thistle. In the early stages of the coltsfoot's 

 evolution, this fluffy head-gear was the calyx or 

 green outer part which surrounded the petals of 

 the little flower, but since the numerous flowers 

 have become crowded together into one head, a 

 calyx for each is no longer needed ; hence a new 

 function has been found for the obsolete calyx, 

 and it has been slowly modified into the hairy 

 pappus that lifts the little fruit on to the wings of 

 the wind, and thus it is often carried for many 

 miles into fields and pastures new, where the seed 

 can germinate and the young plant flourish. 



So it frequently occurs that on a newly-made 

 railway cutting, or on fresh-turned soil, one of the 

 first plants that makes its appearance is the colts- 

 foot ; for its seeds must have an open space in 

 which to germinate and the leaves of the young 

 seedlings must have room to spread out. 



Although we have followed the development 

 of the coltsfoot from its first appearance above the 

 I 113 



