A BOTANISTS SUGGESTION FOR A 

 NATIONAL FLOWER 



By E. F. Andrews. 



AS the patriotic sentiment of the nation, aroused by the 

 great world crisis, is eagerly seeking new modes of 

 expression, it may not be out of place to revive the oft mooted 

 question of a national flower. France has her lily, England 

 her rose, Scotland her thistle and Erin her shamrock, which 

 typify the glory or the prowess of these States and awaken 

 in the hearts of their people, wherever they may behold these 

 gentle monitors, sweet memories of home and country. All 

 of our States save ten, have likewise their appropriate 

 floral emblems, but the United States, our common country, 

 is still, so far as I know, without a recognized floral sponsor. 



And what shall America, the home of so many beautiful 

 and useful plants, choose as a fitting emblem of her greatness? 

 It must be no pampered queen of the garden, nor any proud 

 aristocrat of nature's own creation, holding itself aloof in 

 solitary grandeur from the common walks of our every-day 

 life. The flower I would propose for this honor is the most 

 democratic of plants. It requires no coddling nor coaxing to 

 induce it to grow, but makes itself at home in almost any 

 surroundings. In shady copsewoods, in open fields and 

 meadows, along the borders of dusty roadsides, in hedgerows 

 and in waste places, it blooms freely and brightens the land- 

 scape with its presence, but never seeks to overrun and destroy, 

 like the militaristic weeds that invade our fields and gardens, 

 nor drives the native plant population from its home in the 

 wild. It does not wear the purple robe of kings nor deck 



