Popular Studies of California Wild Flowers 51 



lions ; Italians in particular like its raggedy leaves, which they cook 

 for greens. This was a favorite dish with early settlers and is com- 

 monly used in some places today. It is said that if the leaves are 

 blanched when young and tender, they make a fine salad served with 

 French dressing. The French-Canadians prepare a "bitter salad" 

 from its roots. In Germany, dandelion roots are roasted by the 

 peasants and ground for coffee. We are told that it makes an excel- 

 lent substitute for coffee. In the island of Minorca, when the people 

 were suffering from famine caused by locusts, the inhabitants were 

 enabled to eke out an existence on dandelion roots and greens. 

 When we are inclined to question the right of this pestiferous plant 

 to exist in a world decorated with man-made lawns and gardens, 

 cultivated grain fields and short-sighted individuals, it is well to 

 remember that Mother Nature has large families to provide for and 

 innumerable tiny mouths to feed. Without considering the dande- 

 lion as a remedial agency or its food values to nations and peoples 

 in times of famine and stress, it is interesting to note that ninety- 

 three different insects gather sustenance from its blossoms. After 

 its gay colors have faded, birds devour its seeds and weave its 

 down into their soft little nests. California has a dandelion of its 

 own, of another genus. The fluffy seed globes of the Western spe- 

 cies are most exquisite and are a conspicuous feature of autumn 

 roadsides, lending a touch of ethereal beauty to the landscape as they 

 hover over the dry grasses of waste places. If these seed globes 

 are gathered early, just before expanding, they will remain orna- 

 mental for a long time. The Spanish-Californians were especially 

 fond of them. 



The Western dandelion (Troximon grandiflorum Gray) is 

 closely related to the Eastern dandelion. It has handsome yellow 

 flower heads with deeply cut, lance-shaped leaves, and is a perennial 

 herb with a strong, deep tap-root. It is sometimes two feet or more 

 high and is common on plains and hillsides from Southern California 

 to Washington during the spring and summer months. Troximon, 

 unlike its close relative Taraxacum and from which it can hardly 

 be distinguished by amateurs, is indigenous to the New World, and 

 is found principally west of the Mississippi River. There are more 

 than a dozen species and varieties found on the Pacific Coast. Some 

 of these have orange-colored flowers, while others are of a purplish 

 color. 



The desert dandelion, Malocothrix fenderli, is a pretty little 

 plant growing only a few inches tall, with a dainty rosette of pale, 

 blue-green leaves and light yellow blossoms. It is closely related 

 to the common dandelion, but more frequently found in the desert 

 regions of Arizona. 



With all your faults, we love you still, yellow Dandelions, and 

 the world would be a lonelier place without your friendly, familiar 

 faces smiling at us from the wayside. You are at once the most 

 despised and the best loved of blossoms. You will always be the 

 companion and comforter of little children and you play a noble part 

 in the life about you, doing your best to lighten the lone places 

 where other blooms are not. 



