The star. (Reynoldsville, Pa.) 1892-1946, 1910-08-03
DandeIions.

The dandelion with its golden crown
may truly be called the worlds flow
er; for wherever civilization has gone
its yellow blossoms may be found, de-
flying heat and cold, blossoming early
and late, under all conditions of clim-
ate and moisture presenting smiling
faces to the light of the sun. The dan
delion has two notices of life, one
"In union is strength" the other "Nev-
er say die" Surely a plant or hum
an being with such notices of life
ought to conquer the earth!
All flowers were once simple: that
is to say, each produced its organs of
reproduction on separate stem. What
remarkable change has taken place
in the dandelion family since its sim
pie ancestors first saw the light of
the sun, for now every golden disk
presents from one to two hundred
tiny, perfect florets, each with its dain-
ty yellow ray. Pick a dandelion to
pieces and notice the hollow saucer
in which these set. What an economy
to have but one such receptacle for
colony of flowers! Note the pistll
with its ovary and the tiny pollen
producing stamens of each wee floret
and the strong, hollow stem common
to all. Bridge builders and civil en-
gineers know that nothing is as fexi-
BILE and strong as the hollow tube. The
dandelion needs such a stem to hold
mp her flower colony AGAINST the mad
March winds and beating early April
rains.
| How did the dandelion learn to
crowd its once separate flowers into
composite flower head, and fashion its
wonderful stem, common to the whole
colony? Probably the fiowers grew in
flower cluster, as we see maSy flow
ers growing today, and the crowding
together Of the flowers has been an
aee-long process on the part of the
plant, achieved through the law cf
cross-fertiization, those plants that
were most closely packed being more
easily cross-fertilzed and producing
stronger seed
1t is the old, unanswerable ques-
tion, What is and why is life?
We can only say that certain things
are so and bow in reverence before
the power of their being.
The dandelion learned in some way
that it was better and more economi-
cal to grow one yellow streamer to
every tiny floret than to surround ev-
cry floret with its own row; and what
a goodly sight it is and what merry
show the colony makes when each
tiny yellow banner is flung open to
the sun as signal to bees and in
sects to come and drink the honey
and carry the pollen from cup to cup!
Think of the advantages Of cross-fer-
tilization the dandelion presents over
the violets, who must wait for GER
tain bees to enter their blossoms to
carry the pollen from flower to flow
er. Here every insect that lights up
on the dandelion, every bug that
crawls over it's blossom, carries the
abundant pollen from one flower to
another. So close are the flowers to
gether that our careless feet or the
brushing of our skirts in passing VIII
bring about that much-desired object
of the plant world, cross-fertilizatlon.
: When we remember that this Is the
method that produces the strong seed
and the sturdy plant, we know that
the reason the dandelion has taken
FOR its motto, Tn union is strength.
is that it may out'work it's other mot
to, Never say die"
The dandelion's seed-balls are as
lovely as its flowers; they seem like
dream-howers, or like memories OF
happy days gone by. The dissemina
tion of seed is another factor in the
life of the plant, and the dandelion
presents an example of perfect adap
tation to conditions in this particular;
} but the story Of the seed is another
story-Edith Willis Linn.
It is estimated that out OF every