Democratic Sentinel, Volume 19, Number 25, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 28 June 1895 — The Dandelion. [ARTICLE]

The Dandelion.

The dandelion belongs to the largest, oldest,, and most widely diffused order of piants. While other orders of plants have died out and become mere fossil remains in the rocks, this order has survived the geological changes of many different periods,on account of its power of adapting itself to those changes. And these changes in their turn have only made it better suited for all the varied soils and climates of the earth at the present day. We find members of tliisordfer in every part of the globe, in places as far apart from each other as they can be. It is the prevailing and dominant order of vegetable life, the most highly finished, and the most successful family of plants. And the dandelion is one of the most perfect forms belonging to it. It is the head and crown of the vegetable kingdom, as man is the head and crown of the animal creation, and it is curious how the highest type of plant always is found only where man, the highest type of animal life is found, and where he dwells or cultivates the soil. It is never found apart from him; it follows him wherever he goes—to America, Australia and New Zealand; and there in the new home it becomes a silent reminder of the dear old land he may never see again.