WESTERN DANDELION (Trdximon grandifldrum, Gray). 

 Flower heads yellow, 1 to 1| inches high, all florets strap- 

 shaped, borne singly at the top of stout, naked, hollow stems, 

 a foot or two high. Leaves all basal, lance-shaped, deeply cut. 

 A perennial herb with a strong, deep taproot. Common on 

 plains and moist hillsides from Southern California to Wash- 

 ington, blooming in spring and summer. 



Troximon is so much like the common dandelion of the 

 East that the difference, while apparent in a general way, is 

 yet hard to define. Botanists find an essential distinction in 

 the character of the seeds (achenes) those of the dandelion 

 being roughened above with tiny, hard processes, while those 

 of Troximon are not so. These achenes in Troximon grandi- 

 florum have a noticeably long, capillary beak 3 or 4 times 

 the length of the seed body. Troximon is indigenous only 

 .to the New World, principally to the United States west of 

 the Mississippi. One or two species have been introduced in a 

 small way into European gardens. There are a dozen or more 

 species and varieties found on the Pacific Slope, 2 or 3 with 

 purple flowers, and as many with orange flowers. 



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