The Fascination of Flowers [323 



earn money by helping rid lawns of dandelions. In early summer 

 dandelions can provide a lot of fun for children. The youngsters 

 can whistle through the hollow stems, or make dandelion curls of 

 them; they may even pretend to tell time by the number of puffs 

 required to blow away all the seeds on a ripened stem. 



The Adaptable Dandelion: Children have done such things to 

 dandelions for ages, man has tried his best to exterminate them, 

 animals have grazed on them, other plants have attempted to 

 crowd them out all in vain. The dandelion has had extraordinary 

 success in surviving. One of the many reasons for its survival is its 

 adaptability to circumstances. For example: In a meadow of tall 

 grasses the plant sometimes reaches a height of two feet and more; 

 but on a lawn the flower stem may be less than two inches tall, 

 saving the flower head from the blades of the lawn mower! 



The Dandelion is a Composite Flower: The dandelion belongs to 

 the great family group that we call "composites" a word that 

 comes from the Latin and means "made up of parts." Aside from 

 the dandelions, the composites include asters, thistles, and a great 

 many other kinds of flowers. All have compound flower heads (the 

 term "head" is commonly used for a cluster of flowers) . 



Petals and Buds in the Composites: Some of the composites have a 

 disk in the middle of the flower head. This disk is made up of tiny 

 tubular florets, and around it are brightly colored ray flowers, or 

 petals. 



The dandelion belongs to another type of composite which has 

 a petal-like part on each flower. In a just-opened dandelion you 

 can see the buds at the middle all curving slightly toward the 

 center. They are also shorter and a darker yellow than the outer 

 florets, for they are younger. The flower head is well protected 

 by long bracts; shorter bracts near the stem curl back, forming a 

 frill. 



How the Dandelion Opens and Closes: Dandelions close on dark 

 days and at night. It is often eight o'clock before they begin to 

 wake up, and it may take a full hour for the golden head to be 



