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Dandelion. 
“Dandelion, with globe of down, 
The schoolboy’s clock in every town, 
Which the truant puffs amain, 
To conjure lost hours back again.” 
Not only does it rest its claim to be considered an oracle 
upon these prophetic utterances, but also upon the fact that as 
its blossoms open and close at certain regular hours, it serves 
the solitary shepherd as a clock, and as a barometer, by pre¬ 
dicting, by means of its feathery tufts, calm or stormy weather. 
Well, indeed, might Allan Cunningham exclaim: 
“ There is a lesson in each flower, 
A story in each stream and bower ; 
In every herb on which you tread 
Are written words, which, rightly read, 
Will lead you from earth’s fragrant sod. 
To hope, and holiness, and God !” 
Or, as Charlotte Smith hath said, 
‘ 1 Thus in each flower and simple bell 
That in our path betrodden lie 
Are sweet remembrancers, who tell 
How fast the winged moments fly.” 
This flower is supposed to have derived its name from the 
deeply notched edges of its leaves, they having been thought 
to resemble the teeth of a lion, for which reason it was called 
lion-toothed,” or “dent de lion.” 
Darwin, in his so strangely neglected “ Loves of the Plants,” 
speaks of the methodical habits of the dandelion under its 
classical name: 
“ Leontodons unfold 
On the swart turf their ray-encircled gold; 
With Sol’s expanding beam the flowers unclose, 
And rising Hesper lights them to repose. ” 
