44 
SEED DISPERSAL. 
26 . A study of the dandelion. — In spring the dandelion 
is almost everywhere to be found ; every one knows it — 
the child to admire, the gardener to despise. From each 
cluster of leaves spreading flat in the grass come forth 
several hollow stems, short or tall, depending on the 
amount of sunshine and shade. Each stem bears, not one 
flower, but a hundred or more small ones. Around and 
Fig. 32. — Heads of the dandelion in fruit, closed and open. 
beneath each yellow cluster are two rows of thin, green, 
smooth scales (involucre). 
The short outer row soon curls back, as though for 
rest or ornament, or for watching the progress of the 
colony above ; but the inner row has a very important 
duty yet to perform in guarding the large family within. 
At night, or in daytime, if the day be wet, the long 
scales press like a blanket closely about the flowers, 
