NATURE STUDY. 



the base of the leaf (runcinate} ; and with a central 

 vein running from base to point, or apex, sending 

 out branches into the divisions on either side {feather 

 veined or pinnately veined}. The leaves are smooth on 

 both upper and lower surfaces {glabrous}. We can, 

 then, describe the dandelion leaves concisely as radical, 

 alternate, runcinate, pinnately veined, 

 glabrous. 



The blossom (see frontispiece) has a 

 leafless (naked) stem (called a scape), 

 hollow, cylindrical, containing a milky 

 liquid. It is enclosed in rows or con- 

 centric circles (usually three in number) 

 of green, somewhat leaflike parts (called 

 bracts, forming together the involucre), 

 the divisions, or parts, overlapping like 

 shingles on a roof (imbricated). The 

 parts of the inner and upper row are 

 long and narrow (linear}, and nearly 

 vertical (erect), while the parts of the 

 other rows are somewhat shorter, and are 

 bent outward and downward (reflexed). 

 The yellow part of the dandelion blos- 

 som, surrounded by the involucre, is found, when ex- 

 amined carefully, to be composed of a large number 

 (one hundred to three hundred) of similar parts. (See 

 frontispiece, Fig. B.) 



Each of these is fastened directly, that is, without 

 any stem (hence called sessile), in the enlarged upper 

 end (receptacle} of the flower-stem, or scape. Each 



Fig. 2. 

 Leaf of Dandelion. 



