22 KANSAS ACADEMY OF SCIENCE. 



sunflower; -wherever the track is laid for a railroad, there it grows. No wonder 

 strangers passing through see nothing else. Call it gaudy, coarse and self-asserting 

 if you will — it is persistent, hardy, bright, ever reaching upward and turning its 

 face toward the light, and so is an emblem of a true Kansan. Long may it wave. 



I have spoken thus of some of our flowers, as a mistaken idea is held by new- 

 comers and dwellers in our towns. Not long ago a gentleman at the head of one 

 of the finest schools in the State said our wild flowers would not compare with those 

 of other States — New York for instance. Astonishment gave way to amusement when 

 on inquiry it was found his research was confined to a portion of the country set- 

 tled for thirty years and seeded with tame grasses. As well assert that there never 

 were Indians in the State because there are very few now. I sincerely hope the time 

 is not far distant when a systematic effort to preserve and cultivate our most valu- 

 able flowers will be made. It is worth it on the score of beauty, and desirable be- 

 cause they are adapted to our soil and climate. The florists of the Eastern cities do 

 sell the seeds of perhaps a. dozen sorts, but so change the name that only by personal 

 observation can we identify the little waif -whose name and pedigree were so labori- 

 ously ascertained when we met the nameless one at home on the prairie. 



A lady once bought of Vick a dozen seeds of a beautiful foliage plant called 

 "Snow on the Mountains," and succeeded in getting half a dozen, perhaps, to bloom 

 just before frost, only to find that the bluffs back of her house for miles were just 

 covered with the same flowers, and had been for three months. Yet it is well worthy 

 of cultivation, and is very showy; grows on the banks of rivers all the way to the 

 Smoky river, where it is very luxuriant and seems to enjoy the lack of rain. Its name 

 is Euphorbia marginata, and it is own sister to the brilliant poinsetta, whose scarlet- 

 velvet sprays are worth a dollar each at holidays. The Ascelepias tuherosa, also known 

 as pleurisy root and butterfly weed, is also sold, and is a brilliant, hardy perennial 

 that stubbornly refuses to yield to the usurper, but sends its finely-folded, orange- 

 red clusters defiantly up among the clover, under the apple trees, and even in the 

 garden. Its root runs underground a long distance, and probably is not removed 

 by the careless plow. 



It is high time that as patriots who have the good name of our State at heart, 

 that as scientists who deserve the credit of their research and desire others to share 

 its benefits, this Society proceed to have issued in a cheap, available form a com- 

 plete and descriptive list of our native and acquired flowers, so that our students 

 who do not have access to large libraries can know where to place their specimens. 



It is time some one began to cultivate our wild flowers, as soon some of them, like 

 the Indian and buffalo, will be forever gone. Once the school children brought arm- 

 fuls of the curious elkhorns, as they called them, or orchids (Leucophea) — now they 

 are seldom seen; once the gentian, like a blue tulip, defied the late frosts, and bravely 

 held up its cluster in the brown grass — now one may not see them in years. And 

 so with others. 



Thus grown together in some park, with a convenient list at hand, botany would 

 possess new charms for our students, and teach them "to look up through nature to 

 nature's God." It is said the undevout astronomer is mad; and it is equally true of 

 the botanist, for the more we know of the wonderful structure of plants the more 

 we are led to say: "Wonderful are thy works, Lord God; in wisdom hast thou made 

 them all,'' and to believe it is the part of true wisdom to "consider the lilies how 

 they grow." 



