The Plant World 



A MONTHLY JOURNAL OF POPULAR BOTANY 



OFFICIAL ORGAN OF THE WILD FLOWER PRESERVATION SOCIETY 



OF AMERICA. 



Vol. V. JUNE, 1903. No. 6. 



HOW SHALL OUR WILD FLOWERS BE PRESERVED?* 



By a. J. Grout. 



THE problem of the preservation of our wild flowers is most acute 

 in the \dcinity of our towns and cities, for it is here that flowers 

 suffer most from indiscriminate gathering. 



In rural localities there are at least three situations or conditions 

 that demand attention. The gathering of some particularly attractive 

 wikl flower for city markets ; the search for some rare and local plant 

 and its excessive collection because of its very rarity ; and the clearing 

 of forest areas or the draining and clearing of swamps for economic 

 reasons, so changing the conditions that very many of the native plants 

 are unable to exist. 



The almost complete extinction of the trailing arbutus in many 

 localities where it was formerly abundant furnishes too good an illustra- 

 tion of the damage done by the collecting of attractive wild flowers for 

 the city markets. 



The danger of rarities from over-enthusiastic admirers is well illus- 

 trated by the case of the climbing fern {Lygodium) which would have 

 been nearly or quite an extinct species by this time if measures had not 

 been taken to preserve it. 



In these two cases the conditions are so similar to those that have 

 obtained in the case of game birds and other inoffensive wild animals 

 that it seems certain that similar remedies will produce similar desirable 



■■^Awarded the third prize of twenty dollars, competition of 1902, from the Caro- 

 line and Olivia Phelps Stokes Fund for the Preservation of Native Plants. Reprinted 

 from \h.% Journal of the New York Botanical Garden. 



