COMPOSITAE (COMPOSITE FAMILY) 535 
DANDELION 
Tardxacum officindle, Weber 
Other English names: Blowball, Cankerwort, Doon-head-clock, 
Yellow Gowan, Witch’s Gowan, Milk Witch. 
Introduced. Perennial. Propagates by seeds. 
Time of bloom: All months in the year, where the weather is not at 
freezing point. Most abundant in spring. 
Seed-time: Seeds ready for dispersal within two weeks from the un- 
folding of the flower. 
Range: Cosmopolitan. 
Habitat: Fields, meadows, lawns, waste places. 
Wherever civilized man has established himself and cultivated the 
ground, he has carried and sown this weed, and, once in the soil, the 
Dandelion can be depended on to hold it. 
Drought does not affect it, the root being 
large, thick, fleshy, driven deeply into the 
soil, sometimes to a length of twenty 
inches; and cutting the crowns from the 
roots will not kill this weed as it does 
many taprooted plants; indeed, any part of 
a root will sprout leaves and make a new 
plant if buried in warm, moist soil. All 
parts of the plant are protected by bitter, 
milky juices which animals usually dislike, 
so that even in pastures it often thrives 
and reproduces itself unharmed. 
Leaves basal, three inches to more than 
a foot long, blunt lance-shaped in outline 
but deeply and irregularly lobed and 
toothed, the divisions usually pointing 
toward the base, somewhat hairy when 
young but soon becoming smooth, spread- 
ing on the ground in a flat rosette; petioles 
margined and short. Scapes smooth, 
hollow, cylindrical, short at first but 
lengthening with maturity. Flower-heads 
Fie. 370. — Dandelion 
(Taraxacum officinale). 
Xt. 
often nearly two inches broad, deep golden yellow, opening only 
in fair weather, and closing and reopening several times before 
