LIFE HISTORIES OF FAMILIAR PLANTS 



soil early in the year until it has scattered its 

 seeds, never a sign of a leaf have we seen ; never- 

 theless, the coltsfoot produces leaves, and leaves, 

 too, of a most conspicuous character. 



The underground stem, or rootstock, of the 

 coltsfoot by no means exhausts its resources when 

 it produces its flowering branches. No sooner do 

 the seeds begin to ripen than other buds begin to 

 develop, and presently these also peep through the 

 soil. Some two months later the ground where 

 the coltsfoot's flower-heads appeared, will be more 

 or less completely occupied with a mass of broad 

 and angular leaves (Fig. 75, Plate 52). The thought 

 occurs to few people that these leaves are those 

 of the familiar coltsfoot, for the simple reason, that 

 in the ordinary way, we expect flowers to develop 

 with, and amongst the leaves. So these mysterious- 

 leaves appear and make a bold show, but no flowers 

 are forthcoming. When they have died down 

 again, and winter has removed every trace of them, 

 the yellow stars of the coltsfoot again become 

 conspicuous about the surface of the bare soil. 



Thus, the summer foliage and the flower-heads 

 of early spring alternate ; and a little investigation 

 below ground will clearly show that these ob- 

 trusive leaves originate from the same rootstocks 

 as the coltsfoot's flower-heads. 



It is interesting to observe how the leaves of 

 the coltsfoot thrust their way amongst the grasses 

 and other plants into the sunlight ; which feature I 

 have endeavoured to illustrate in Fig. ^jd (Plate 53). 

 Their curiously-angled edges assist in this opera- 



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