OUR COMMON SUMMER FLOWERS. 2(j9 



a name to do some work for himself, since many quite different kinds of 

 plants are distinguished by characters that must be carefully looked for, 

 as the size of leaf, shape of leaf, arrangement of leaves on the stem, size 

 of the flower, shape and some details of structtire of the flower, and so on. 

 Even in such a simple thing as learning the names of our wild flowers 

 "there is no royal road to knowledge." All that I can do is to grade down 

 the highway and roll off some of the stones, so that the road may be 

 rather more easily traveled. 



Since almost everybody notices the colors of flowers, I shall here 

 arrange the summer flowers of Nebraska primarily by color, and then 

 make use of other characteristics in a secondary way. After the common 

 name I give the scientific name of the genus. 



ii. Flowers flat, spreading 2 to 3 inches across; grow in central 



A. Flowehs Brown. 



In a dense cylindrical erect spike. 



Leaves long and narrow; grow in wet places, even in ponds. 



Cat-tail Flags (Typha) 



B. Flowers Orange (or Yellow). 



Large, very pretty. 



Leaves in whorls on the stems; on moist land in eastern Nebraska; 



3 to 5 Inches long Wild Lilies (Lilium) 



C. Flowers Yellow. 



I. Plants aquatic. 



1. Flowers 2 inches across; leaves round, floating. 



Yellow Water Lilies (Nymphaea) 



2. Flowers 4 and 5 inches across; leaves round, a foot or more in 



Wild Pumpkins (Cticitrbita) 

 diameter, lifted above the water Lotus {Nelumbo) 



II. Plants terrestrial. 



1. Plants prickly. 



a. Fleshy, thick leafless plants Prickly Pear Cactus (Opuntia) 



6. Not fleshy plants, with large leaves, common weeds, 



Buffalo Bur (Solanum) 



2. Plants not prickly. 



a. Flowers large, more than 1 inch across. 



i. Flowers funnel-shaped, 2 inches across: the plant trailing: 

 grow in central and western Nebraska 



and western Nebraska Yellow Star Flowers (Mcntzelia) 



iii. Flowers 1 to 2 inches across, with a long tube and 4 petals; 

 plants 2 to 4 feet high; common 



Evening Primroses (Oenothera) 

 iv. "Flower" compound of many, minute flowers, the whole re- 

 sembling a simple flower. 



