MOUNTAIN FLOWERS 305 



H. gracile, or Small Hawkweed, has tiny yellow or white 

 flowers borne at the end of the long, slender, branching stems. 

 They resemble miniature Dandelions and are very abundant. 

 Like the Hawksbeards, the rays of the Hawkweeds are trun- 

 cate, or cut off squarely at the ends, and finely toothed. 



LARGE-FLOWERED FALSE DANDELION 



Troximon glaucum. Composite Family 



Stems : scape naked, slender, pubescent. Leaves : all basal, linear, 

 lanceolate, crenulate, acuminate at the apex. Flowers: heads solitary, 

 yellow ; rays truncate, five-toothed. 



A flower very like a real Dandelion, but with totally dif- 

 ferent foliage. The False Dandelion may always be distin- 

 guished by its long ribbon-like leaves, which grow up from 

 the base of the plant and have slightly wavy margins. 



• T. atirantiacum, or Copper False Dandelion, has deep 

 orange or copper-coloured flowers, or very occasionally pur- 

 plish flowers. 



COMMON DANDELION 



Taraxacuiji officinale var. lividum. Composite P'^amily 



Scapes and leaves from the crown of a thick vertical root. Leaves : 

 lanceolate in outline, and from irregularly dentate to runcinate-pinnatifid. 

 Flowers: in solitary heads at the summit of the hollow scapes; rays 

 numerous ; involucre a single series of nearly equal narrow bracts, and 

 several calyculate ones, the outer reflexed, all acute. 



"Common" as this Dandelion is named, and common as 

 it is in all the mountain regions, yet it is far from being 

 an ugly or even an uninteresting plant. On the contrary, 

 its gorgeous golden blossoms render it extremely attractive. 

 These blossoms consist of from one to two hundred strap- 

 shaped rays, their blunt tips notched into five teeth, which 

 remind us that each ray-flower was once composed of five 

 petals. The leaves are boldly cut into jagged lobes (sup- 

 posed to resemble the teeth of a lion, hence the common 



