374 THE HIGHER DICOTYLEDONS. 



do they (1) resemble, (2) differ from, those of the Daisy and 

 Dandelion ? Is there any pappus ? How many disc-flowers 

 are there in the head ? Does the style bear diverging stig- 

 matic arms, or not ? By careful observation try to make out 

 the life-history of the flower-head. 



The central (disc) flowers appear to resemble those of the 

 Daisy, but close inspection shows that they are really male 

 flowers, for the style acts merely as a piston to push the 

 pollen out of the anther-tube ; the style does not divide into 

 two stigmatic arms. The outer (ray) flowers are female 

 flowers, as in Daisy ; both kinds of flower have a pappus, but 

 it remains small in the male flowers, though it enlarges to 

 form a parachute on the fertilised ovary of the female flower. 

 Only the male flowers produce honey ; insects visiting a 

 newly opened head must (if cross-pollination occurs) bring 

 pollen from an older flower (why?). When the head closes 

 in the evening the pollen pushed out of the anther-tubes of 

 the male (disc) flowers may be transferred to the straps of 

 the female (ray) flowers, and when the head opens again the 

 pollen may slide down the straps to the stigmas situated at 

 the base, bringing about pollination. 



Examine the leaves, which come up in a tuft, a few weeks 

 after the flower-heads. The leaves are upright and rolled up 

 at first, but when the blade begins to unfold it turns over so 

 as to be horizontal, and then rapidly spreads out and becomes 

 from three inches to nearly a foot broad. The leaf is covered, 

 especially on the lower side of the heart-shaped angular 

 blade, with a cotton-like mass of hairs (formerly soaked in 

 saltpetre and used as tinder) ; the stalk is long and stout, 

 and the fully grown leaf spreads out like an umbrella and 

 stops the growth of other smaller plants below it. 



Dig up a plant in early summer and note that each flower- 

 ing shoot comes off independently from the stem, which bears 

 the scars of the leaves of former years. In plants dug up 

 in autumn note the young leaves for next year, also the egg- 

 shaped buds of the flowering shoots, in which the young 

 flowers can be plainly seen on making a longitudinal section. 

 Note also the long white tough branches which arise from the 

 underground stem and which enable the plant to spread over 

 a large area. The Coltsfoot is a rampant and troublesome 

 weed when once it gets a footing in fields, owing to its rapid 



