taraxacum l)£U0~kottt5. Natural Order: Compositec—Aster Family. 
RIOUS — extremely so sometimes — is the formation of our 
English words; thus, Dandelion is from the French dent de 
lion , this being itself from the Latin dens leonis — each signi¬ 
fying lion’s tooth, because of the indentation of the leaves; 
^ ^ but the e in the original first word is changed to a, because 
that approaches nearer to the sound than does our e. There 
Ipare two species of this plant: the one above named, and one called the 
^ Dwarf Dandelion, the Latin name of which is Kriegia Virginica, named 
Rafter Dr. Daniel Krieg, an eminent German botanist, who visited this 
ffy country to pursue his favorite study. The Taraxacum (from the Greek 
tarasso, I change, on account of its medicinal properties) is larger, and 
is familiar to everyone, as its golden blossoms gleam bright and fre- 
quent through the grass. The stalks are round and hollow, bearing 
each a single flower; and the seeds, when ripe, possess a globular fringe of 
feathery down, which buoys them up, and they float off like the thistle seed on 
the surrounding air. In spring, when the leaves are tender, they are boiled and 
dressed for the table. 
TYANDELION, with globe of down, 
The schoolboy’s clock in every town, 
Which the truant putts amain, 
To conjure lost hours back again. —Howitt. 
'T'HINE full many a pleasing bloom 
* Of blossoms lost to all perfume; 
Thine the dandelion flowers, 
Gilt with dew like sun with showers. 
— Clare. 
T'HE sunny days of childhood 
A In simple joys are passed; 
And, like the early summer flower, 
Too frail and fair to last. 
THE singing of the happy birds 
1 Again I like to hear: 
They carry back my memory 
To many a bygone year. 
— S. A. Munson. 
Yet memory, ever in delight, 
Turns to those happy hours, 
When skies above were ever bright. 
The pathway strewn with flowers. 
— William R. Lawrence. 
I IO 
