164 COMPOSITE. 



todon taraxacum), so called from " Dent de lion," because the 

 cutting of the leaves resembles lions' teeth. Elliot calls this 

 flower the " Sunflower of the spring," and the French term it, 

 for its seed's sake, " Couronne de pretre." The poet Lowell 

 thus celebrates its praise : 



" Dear common flower, that grow'st beside the way, 

 Fringing the dusty road with harmless gold, 

 First pledge of blithesome May, 

 Which children pluck, and, full of pride, behold, 

 High-hearted buccaneers, o'erjoyed that they 

 An El Dorado in the grass have found, 

 "Which not the rich earth's ample round 

 May match in wealth ! Thou art more dear to me 

 Than all the prouder summer blooms may be ! " 



We used to make chains of the stalks when we were children, 

 but we always stained our pinafores with them, and got into 

 trouble. The best use of them, in our opinion, was, that we 

 had a penny a-hundred for gathering their blossoms off the 

 lawn. The leaves when blanched are used as a winter salad 

 on the continent, and a valuable medicine is obtained from 

 the root. 



The Nipplewort family comes after the Dandelion. There 

 are two British species. 



The common Nipplewort (Lapsana communis), bears its 

 small yellow flowers in panicles, somewhat resembling the 

 Wall Lettuce, but branching at acute and not right angles. 

 The leaves are ovate, stalked, and toothed. 



The Dwarf Nipplewort (L. pusilla), has leafless stalks and 

 pale flowers. The root-leaves are rough- edged. 



The common Nipplewort grows abundantly in our woods, 

 hedges, and waste places, but we have not the dwarf species. 



A pleasing contrast among this crowd of yellow " stars " is 

 the Blue Chicory (Cichorium intybus, Plate XL, fig. 2), with 

 its woody stem and plentiful flowers. It is a very attractive 

 plant. Fanny found it growing by the roadside near Clevedon, 

 and also about Looe, in Cornwall. The Germans call it " Keeper 

 of the Ways." Its flowers open at eight o'clock in the morning, 



