CYNTHIA DANDELION.——-THE DANDELION CYNTHIA. 143 
Dandelion, is a corruption of the French, which means “ Lion's 
tooth,” and is in allusion to the tooth-like margins of the leaf of 
the true Dandelion, which the root-leaves of our plant resemble. 
The Cynthia Dandelion is one of the earliest flowers of its 
season in the districts where it grows. This district, in a general 
way, may be described as from Maryland west to Kansas, and 
from there southwardly to Texas. The flowers are often open 
before the frosts are wholly gone; and before March has de- 
parted the “yellow buds” break forth in all their spring beauty, 
and clothe the meadows with their brilliant flowers. In the 
more mountainous districts, as noted by Professor Wood, the stem 
often branches a little; and, as this character was overlooked in 
the diagnosis of the first describer, that form has been given a 
new name, Cyzthia montana, and it is in this condition that our 
artist has taken it from a specimen furnished by Mr. Jackson 
Dawson, of the Arnold Arboretum, but, as it is the same species, 
it is not worth while to perpetuate a separate name. 
On critically examining Cyzthia Dandelion, the student will 
find many points of general interest. The root-leaves will be 
noted as having the base so tapering as to be almost like perfect 
leaf-stalks, and with the largest or widest diameter at the end (Fig. 
4). But, on the flower-stalks, this order seems to be inverted. 
The base widens, and the apex becomes more slender in pro- 
portion to the distance from the root-leaves (Fig. 7). The soft 
spines, or teeth, however, remain about the same size on both 
classes of leaves. But, when we come to the flower, we find 
that the strap-shaped florets are wider at their termination than 
at their bases, and, in this respect, take after the root-leaves in 
their general outline; and this lesson will be found very common 
in plants of this order. All the parts of plants are but modified 
leaves; but the phases of rhythmic growth decide what form 
the new modifications shall take. When a flower is to be formed 
in a plant of this character, a wave of growth starts from between 
the root-leaves. As the little waves, marked by each stem-leaf, 
get weaker, the forms of the leaves change in accordance with 
