Читать книгу Little Wanderers онлайн
4 страница из 16
THOSE THAT FLY WITH PLUMES OR DOWN.
ssss1
DANDELIONS.
ssss1
Everybody is well acquainted with the dandelion, but not everybody knows that it was brought to this country from Europe. It is not probable that a dandelion seed could come on the wings of the wind three thousand miles across the ocean, nor is it probable that people would bring it on purpose.
Very likely dandelion seeds were accidentally mixed in with the grass and clover seeds the settlers brought from their homes in the Old World.
Before the coming of the white man the Indian did not see the roadsides yellow with dandelions, nor did he see dandelions at all, excepting a kind that grows sparingly way up north and another that grows in the Rocky Mountains.
The European dandelions liked the New World and when they had the chance spread very fast, so that now they are everywhere—at least in the East.
The reason they were able to spread so is that the dandelion seeds were able to fly.
If they had not flown away but had dropped down close to the parent plant and grown there, they would not have been allowed to spread much; for people do not like dandelions in their fields and lawns, and try hard to root them out.