"Jeffrey Turner"  wrote in message
>
> No, these dandelions have no scape.  The flower grows directly at
> the point where the leaves meet.  It seems like true genetic evolution
> not Lamarckian adaptation.  Any idea how I'd go about publishing
> this?
>
You need to do a literature search to make sure that no-one else has spotted
the same thing. You will also certainly find out things of relevance, which
you can cite. It helps if you have access to a university library and a
search engine called "Web of Science" which indexes recent papers
by subject
and by citation.
Then you've got to make sure that you are genuinely observing a genetic
difference. You could try growing some new and old dandelions under
identical conditions. If the difference isn't totally clear-cut you then do
statistical analysis of the populations.
A research journal would love to know the gene involved, or the proximate
mechanism. This is probably beyond your resources, and since dandelions are
asexual you can't do simple Mendelian crosses. However it might be possible
to get some botanist with access to a modern lab involved.
Choose a journal that accepts short articles, and submit it. Since you are
not an academic they will probably referee it more thoroughly than usual,
but if there is a genuine discovery here then the referees will want to help
you get it published, so they will suggest improvements. Don't throw away
your experimental materials in case someone wants to inspect them.
Good luck.
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