The American Botanist 



VOL. XXVI. AUGUST, 1920 No. 3. 



Flowers now sleep within their hoods. 

 Daisies button into buds, l-IUjf^j^,, 



From soiling dew the buttercup ^PW Yo!,-^ 



Shuts her golden jewels up '^-^fVfCAL 



And the rose and woodbine they ^^'^HOijr^ 



Wait again the smiles of day. 



— John Clare 



*v 



THE DESERT TRUMPET FLOWER 



By W11.1.ARD N. CivUTE. 



IT is interesting to note how small a difference sometimes 

 suffices to elevate a weed to the position of a prized flower 

 or to exclude from our gardens some other specimen that 

 seems at first glance to be equally desirable. Let any of the 

 denizens of our gardens, however beautiful, develop a ten- 

 dency U) undue multiplication, coming up where it is not 

 wanted and crowding its neighbors, and it becomes a pest to 

 be rooted out forthwith. The toad-flax or butter and eggs 

 {Linaria vulgaris) is a historic example of a flower that be- 

 came a weed, but anybody who owns a garden can recall in- 

 stances of similar nature. In some gardens it is the lily-of-the- 

 valley, in others it is the live-for-ever. In my own recent 

 experience the European muHein (Verbascum pannositni) , the 

 garden rudbeckia (Rudbeckia triloba) and the day flower 

 {Conitnelyna communis) have .shown that their room is better 

 than their company. 



On the other hand, some of our most delightful flowers 

 have risen from the ranks of the weeds. Like a genius in a- 



