DANDELIONS. 



W. M. MUNSON. 



It is a common practice in most places to permit perfect 

 freedom to the hordes of women and children which every 

 spring invade the roadsides and sunny slopes of parks and 

 private grounds in search of "greens;" in other words, of the 

 common dandelion. Contrary to the usual notion, however, 

 this is the worst possible thing for the lawn thus sought out; 

 for in addition to the injury caused by the knives and trowels 

 used in digging the roots, every top or crown cut off will in a 

 short time send up in its place from one to six new crowns and 

 the lawn is frequently ruined. 



A hardly less common pest in the lawns of the state is the 

 Fall Dandelion, Leontodon autiiniJiale . This plant, often 

 wrongly called "arnica," manifests itself in late summer and 

 early fall, as its name implies, and often takes complete 

 possession of fields and lawns ; its flat, spreading, radical leaves 

 choking out all grass and other competing plants in its neigh- 

 borhood. This, as well as the first mentioned species, grows 

 readily from root cuttings and ordinary digging of the plants 

 has the effect of multiplying them, although not to so great an 

 extent as with the spring dandelion. 



The common dandelion is too well known to need description, 

 but the other species is frequently overlooked. In brief, it is 

 characterized by a branched, rather fleshy root ; very numerous, 

 long, rather slender and very deeply cut leaves in a thick mass 

 at the surface of the ground; slender branching flower scape, 

 8 to 12 inches high ; peduncles thickish and scaly bracted next 

 to the small (^-^ inch) deep yellow head. 



With a view to ascertaining precisely the behavior of muti- 

 lated plants and of young seedlings of both species, seeds 

 were sown and root cuttings were made in the fall. These 



