120 With Feet to the Earth 



self and conceal his little true knowledge 

 behind hard names." 



Botany, for example, is a study that 

 would be a recreation if it were put into 

 English. Let us see what Gray says a 

 dandelion is : 



" Taraxacum. Head many-flowered, 

 large, solitary on a slender hollow scape. 

 Involucre double, the outer of short 

 scales ; the inner of long, linear scales 

 erect in a single row. Achenes oblong- 

 ovate to fusiform, 4-5 ribbed, the ribs 

 roughened, the apex prolonged into a 

 very slender beak, bearing the copious 

 soft and white capillary pappus. Peren- 

 nials or biennials ; leaves radical, pin- 

 natifid or runcinate ; flowers yellow. T. 

 officinale. Smooth, or at first pubescent ; 

 outer involucre reflexed. Pastures and 

 fields everywhere. Indigenous forms occur 

 northward and in the Rocky Mountains. 

 April-September. After blossoming, the 

 inner involucre closes, and the slender 

 beak elongates and raises up the pappus 

 while the fruit is forming; the whole in- 

 volucre is then reflexed, exposing to the 



