POETRY OF FLOWERS. 
Sn 
“To win the secret of a weed’s plain heart,” 
the dandelion frequently serves to tell another 
tale : gently plucking it from its hollow stem, he 
blows softly upon its feathery coronet, and away 
flies the ethereal spray. “One o’clock!” he 
shouts, and then gives another puff at his floral 
timepiece, and off careers another fleecy cloud: 
“Two o’clock!” he cries, and again repeats the 
experiment, until not a single tiny plume is left 
on the poor bald-headed flower; as many puffs 
as it takes to scatter the down, so many hours 
of the day have fleeted by. They scarcely think 
they are aiding the operations of Nature by 
thus dispersing, attached to that light and pretty 
spray, the flower’s seed. 
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 soli¬ 
tary shepherd as a clock, and as a barometer, by 
predicting, by means of its feathery tufts, calm 
or stormy weather. 
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." 
