“You ought to dig up one of these dandelion plants, take it home and grow it in a pot. It is a most interesting plant to observe, especially the growth and ripening of its seeds. I see here dandelion flowers in almost every stage of their growth. “If you look you will find among the wide open flower-heads many others which are closed. Let us split a few of these down the centre, and we will find that they are not all alike. “Here is one with a bright yellow tip. This one has not yet opened. If you use your lens you will notice that, like the daisy, this is not a single flower, but is made up of a great many small yellow florets. These florets stand upon a flat round disc, and they are surrounded by two rings of green things called bracts. One set of these bracts stands up straight. These protect the florets. They open and close the flower. The down pointing bracts protect the flower from ants and crawling insects. [Illustration: Dandelion.] “Now, Frank, look at the split flower and tell me what you see with your glass.” “The florets are all of one kind,” said Frank. “They are all strap shaped, and there are a great many of them. The younger florets are in the middle.” “If you were to pull the florets out and count them you would find about three hundred of them in a single flower-head,” said Uncle George. [Illustration] 1. Dandelion Flower-head not yet opened. 2. Single Floret of same. 3, 4, 5. Flower-head closed for Seed ripening. 6. Second time of opening. “Now, take one single floret and examine it, please. It is very like the outer (white) florets of the daisy. But it is more complete. There is a large seed-vessel at the bottom. Just above this there are a great number of long silky hairs. You will see what these are for by and by. The lower part of the floret is tubular, but it opens up into a long yellow strap-shaped petal. There are really five petals all joined together here.” “Oh yes,” said Frank, “at the top of the floret I can see five distinct teeth, and five ridges run down from them. I also see the barrel-shaped ring of stamens.” “Let us gather some more of the closed flowers,” said Uncle George. “Here are two other closed flowers. One of them has a yellow tip, withered and faded almost to brown. The other has a white woolly tip.” “Have these not opened yet?” Tom asked.