4 
The Colorado Experiment Station 
•Portance. (Rydburg’s Flora of Colo., Exp. Sta. Bui. 100, records 
it as reaching 7,000 feet. Prof. Ellsworth Bethel has found it 
occurring above 11,000 feet on the slopes of Arapahoe Peak and 
flourishing with unusual vigor at Arrow, 9,500 feet elevation .) 
LIFE HISTORY OF THE DANDELION PLANT 
1 he common dandelion may be described as an apparently 
stemless, herbaceous plant with a long, fleshy, perennial tap-root. 
Every part of the plant is permeated by a system of minute chan¬ 
nels containing a milky juice (latex) which readily oozes out 
wherever a wound is made. The plant spreads readily by means 
of its numerous little seed-like fruits, each one being attached to 
a small parachute of downy hairs which enables the seed to drift 
r 2. This picture shows that the larger dandelion plants can survive a 
temporary dry spell in summer which will kill the lawn grass 
before the wind often for considerable distances. The seeds ger¬ 
minate readily wherever there is sufficient moisture. During its 
first season of growth, the seedling dandelion plant produces 
mei ely a tuft of leaves at the top of its deep-growing tap-root. 
Eai ly in the spring of the second season, and each season of its 
lifetime thereafter, the crown of the root sends up a new whorl 
of leaves in the center of which several flower-buds soon appear. 
The Root .—The dandelion possesses a most remarkable root 
system. In plants two years old, it often extends to a depth of 
two feet or more into the earth, and while commonly in the form 
of a single tap-root, it occasionally possesses several main 
branches. One of the unusual features of the root is its ability to 
pi oduce buds and shoots wherever it is cut off. This property is 
