60 colt's-foot. 



which was often used for tmcler, when that 

 substance was more in request than it now is. 

 The Tartars are much infested by gnats, and 

 they frequently burn touchwood in order to 

 suffocate these insects, and use the roots of 

 this Coh's-foot for the purpose. It grows on 

 barren steppes and plains where few other 

 plants are found, and it blooms from the 

 beginning of ]\Iarch till the end of April, often 

 giving quite a yellow hue to the lands where 

 it abounds. 



Curtis notices one peculiarity in this blossom. 

 As soon as the flower is oat of bloom, and the 

 seeds, with the pappus or down as yet moist, 

 are enclosed in the flower-cup, the heads hang 

 down ; but as the moisture of the seeds and 

 down evaporates in withering, they become 

 lighter, and the ball of feathery seeds expands, 

 and assumes the appearance of a Dandelion 

 puff. 



The creeping character of the roots, the 

 great abundance of the seeds, and the facility 

 with which they are dispersed, render this 

 plant a very troublesome weed on some cul- 

 tivated lands. 



