SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 



113 



ABNORMAL HAWKBIT. 



By p. Taylor. 



npHE plant shown in the accompanying photo- 

 graphs is the common hawlvbit {Leontodon 

 hispidiis), and was found by myself growing at the 

 foot of the cliff between Lavernock Point and 

 Swanbridge (about three miles from Penarth), in 

 South jWales.^on August 3rd, 1896. It is about 



stalkless flower-buds. Those flowers which have 

 stalks may be seen in the photographs near the 

 two upper corners of the " fan." A few inches 

 from the root there branches off a separate fiat 

 stem, about a quarter of an inch thick and one and 

 a-quarter inches wide, which has curved over upon 



Fasciated Hawkbit, showing the two sides. 



twenty-eight inches in height above ground, and 

 consists of a fasciated mass, somewhat fan-shaped, 

 varying in thickness from about a quarter of an 

 inch at the top, to half an inch or more at the root, 

 the breadth along the top edge being fifteen inches. 

 The " fan " is clothed with a number of leaves, 

 those at the top being much smaller and of a 

 different shape to those growing lower down. The 

 flowers grow directly from the " fan," and, with a 

 few exceptions, without any stalk. The top edge 

 of the " fan " is covered with some hundreds of the 



itself in a spiral of two complete turns, very much 

 in the same manner as the ash branch figured on 

 page 6 of vol. ii., Science-Gossii' (March, 1S95). 

 The formation of this spiral stem cannot be seen 

 in the photographs, as it is hidden by the leaves 

 growing from it, but the position is indicated by 

 the projection on the right-hand side of the photo- 

 graph marked a. There were also several flower- 

 buds with the usual stalks growing from the spiral 

 stem. 



47, Stanu'dl Road, Penarth; August i^th, 1896. 



October, 16 



-No. 29, Vol. 3. 



