MIDSUMMER FLOWERS 



BY DR. R. W. SHUFELDT, C.M.Z.S. 



AS common a plant as the Dandelion is, with its 

 great golden flowers (Fig. 1), how rarely do we 

 see reproductions of artistic photographs of it, 

 presenting it in all its splendor as we find it in nature ! 

 There is a very good reason for this. As a rule we find 

 it growing 

 close to the 

 ground, and it 

 generally re- 

 quires a high 

 order of pa- 

 tience to so 

 place the cam- 

 era that what 

 we see of it is 

 reproduced on 

 the camera's 

 ground - glass. 

 Then, its bril- 

 1 i a n t yellow 

 flowers require 

 the use of a 

 special plate, 

 in that they 

 may not photo- 

 graph nearly 

 black; and 

 finally, if one 

 attempts to dig 

 up a plant in 

 order to photo- 

 graph it in- 

 doors, its big 

 and long root 

 acts as a deterrent to its proper transplanting. If the 

 root be cut in two an inch or more below the surface of the 

 ground, the leaves and flowers wilt in a few moments, 

 rendering them unfit subjects to pose before the camera 

 in the botanist's studio. Neltje Blanchan refers especially 

 to this latter character when she described that part of 

 the Dandelion plant ; she says : " Deep, very deep, the 

 stocky, bitter root penetrates, where heat and drought 

 aff'ect it not, nor nibbling rabbits, moles, grubs or insects, 

 and other burrowers break through and steal." 



Where the climate is mild, or where mild winters 

 occur from time to time, one may expect to see Dande- 

 lions from day to day throughout the entire year; this 

 is often the case in Washington, D. C, where it is no 

 uncommon thing to observe a flower of this species peep- 

 ing above the snow in January; a layer of snow on the 

 ground there may by no means be long lasting. Then, 

 in this city, when spring comes around, these very Dande- 

 lions may appear in magnificent abundance. There was 

 at least one marvelous outcropping of them on the broad 



lawns of "Oak Lawn" of the Dean estate on Connecticut 

 Avenue, in the very heart of the city. The million or 

 more of flowers formed a close carpet of gorgeous, golden 

 yellow that spread over several acres of ground, forming 

 a wild-flower exhibit not easily forgotten. 



There are 

 several species 

 of Dandelions 

 in this country, 

 belonging to 

 different gen- 

 era, as the 

 Dwarf Dande- 

 lion and the 

 Tall Dande- 

 lion, which will 

 be figured and 

 described later 

 on, should 

 good examples 

 come to hand. 

 In midsum- 

 mer, through- 

 out the eastern 

 parts of our 

 country and 

 elsewhere, 

 there is such 

 a bewildering 

 blossoming-out 

 of flowers, of 

 so many de- 

 scriptions and 

 in every con- 

 ceivable sort of place in nature, that it is no easy matter to 

 make a choice at this season, in that the flora may be fully, 

 or even fairly, represented. However, there are some 

 flowers that must not upon any account be overlooked ; 

 and, abundant as the chosen flower may be, one can gen- 

 erally manage to find out something about it which is not 

 very generally known. This holds true, for example, in 

 the case of such a plant as the Pink Knotweed, of which 

 a spray or two is here shown in Figure 2. Masses of its 

 gorgeous pink flowers are to be seen along the road- 

 sides, in the corners of pastures and fields and in many 

 so-called waste places. Not one in a hundred who daily 

 passes them even knows the common name of the plant, to 

 say not a word as to its scientific name. Its rosy flowers 

 are bundled together on erect spikes an inch or more in 

 length, and they open in the most unmethodical manner 

 here and there along the spike. Many insects are attracted 

 to them, especially the smaller bees of the genus Andrena, 

 fertilization taking place much as we find it in the common 

 Buckwheat, to which group the Pink Jointweed belongs. 



403 



FEW WILD FLOWERS POSSESS GREATER BEAUTY THAN THE COMMON DANDELION 



Fig. 1. One of ^e most abundant of all the Cnmposila is this golden beauty of the pastures, lawns, and waysides. 

 Scientifically, it has been named Taraxacum officinale for the reason that its root has been employed for medicinal 

 purposes: there are several other species of dandelions more or less nearly related to it. Oripinally, it was intro- 

 duced from Europe; but at the present time it has spread over a large part of the world. The Dandelion has every- 

 thing in its favor to spread its kind to all quarters of the globe; and it would seem that, in certain sections or even 

 regions, it is becoming more and more abundant each year that goes by. 



