St. Landry democrat. (Opelousas, La.) 1878-1894, 1890-08-23
The Daudelion.

The bright golden dsndelion is SO COM
mon that it does not need description.
We have all seen it SO many times. with
its yellow discs turned up to the sun, or
its downy globes, nodding in the air, that
we have grown so accustomed to it as to
consider it only weed, and pass it by
| without giving it a glance. But the dan
delion is not weed, and although it grows
| so sturdily by the dusty road and In sterile
places it bears one of the most curious
and wonderful flowers. If it were for
eign plant, and needed care and attention,
how beautiful we would consider it y 1t
grows in many countries and climates, al
most from the equator to the Arctic circle,
and is found in Europe, North America,
Central Asia and the Arctic region.
The dandelion gets it's name from the
tooth. like lobes of the leaves, the word
dandelion being derived from the French
'dent de-lion"-'tooth of the ion." If
YOU were to examine one of the pretty
yellow blossoms with magnifying glass
sou would be astonished to find what a
gorgeous field of golden blossoms your
little dandelion had become for the dan
dalton head instead of being single bios
SON, is really cluster of hundreds of tiny
forets that must be magni6ed many times
before their real beauty can be seen. At
ter the yellow blossoms have withered and
fallen away, the dandelion blooms out into
new and wonderful loveliness, for where
each golden blossom was, there is now a
delicate ball of silver plumes. The first
strong wind will send these tiny plumes
floating all over the country, and then you
can see that each bears a tiny seed to be
planted for the next years crop.
These little seeds will lodge in many
out-of-the way places, and they are SO
hardy that they will grow in almost any
SOIL The dandelion is an herb belonging
to the sub-o,der Cichoracee of the nat.
ural order of Composite. In Ill parts of
the plant there is contained milky juice
that is useful for its medicinal properties.
The leaves are bitter. but are bleached and
eaten as a salad ; they also serve as food
for silk-worms. The long tap-root has a
simple of many headed rhizoma. and is
externally black. In some places the root
is roasted and used as substitute for cof-
fee, and an infusion, decoction and extract
from it are used as tonic, or for disorders
of the digestive organs.
When we consider how beautiful and
useful this little plant is. and how widely
it is scattered over the earth, we cannot
hO1P doIll4 lAS IL. II 10 OAO VI VIC 0aEilcSk
flowers to bloom in the Spring, and one of
the latest to leave US in the fall / have
found the brave little blossoms shining
like stars when everything else was with
cred and dead, and. have seen them, also,
in Spring before the snow was fairly gone.
Upon a showery night and still,
Without sound of warning,
Atrooper band surprised the hill,
And held it in the morning.
We Were not walked by bugle notes,
No cheer or dreams invaded;
And YET, at dawn. their yellow coats
ON the green slopes pAraded
We careless folk the dead forgot
Till one CAV, idly walking,
We marked upon the self-same spot
A GRO xd of veterans talking
They shook their trembling heads and gray
With pride and noiseless laughter;
When, well-a-day they blew away,
And me- r were heard of after
The Fountain.