70 ILLINOIS STATE ACADEMY OF SCIENCE 



blossoms, crows are well known to be attracted by bright 

 blossoms, and even the blood-thirsty hawk has been 

 known to ornament his nest with violets. 



Fortunately for us, all flowering plants do not need 

 protection. The rough and ugly weeds need not be in- 

 cluded in our list since nobody cares to collect them, but 

 there are many fair flowers as well as weeds on the far- 

 mer 's list of enemies, and many others whose room is 

 regarded as much better than their company. A large 

 number must be exterminated if we and our crops are 

 to live. One may gather as much as he will of butter- 

 cups, daisies, toad-flax, evening primroses, bouncing Bet, 

 rudbeckias, goldenrod, wild morning glories and the like 

 without fear of reducing the supply. And there are many 

 others so rampant as to growth, so ubiquitous and per- 

 sistent, that an annual picking seems almost necessary 

 to keep them within bounds. Of this nature are dande- 

 lions, bouncing Bet, the elder and in some localities the 

 wild crab. We may be thankful, also, that there are a 

 few others that are protected by their habitat: species 

 of inaccessible cliffs, remote mountain summits, desert 

 fastnesses and extensive barrens. These are natural 

 sanctuaries in which the embattled plants may persist 

 long after their kind, elsewhere, have given up the con- 

 test. No thoughtless band of picknickers are likely to 

 devastate such a region or destroy a whole race at one 

 sweep. 



The plants that are in need of special protection are a 

 comparatively small number that have been brought to 

 the attention of the public through some special attrac- 

 tiveness they possess. All the early flowering species 

 are in danger because, coming so close on the heels of 

 winter, they are typical harbingers of the milder season 

 to which we always look forward. The flowers of mid- 

 summer rarely receive like attention. Then there is an- 

 other class made conspicuous by history, tradition or 

 use, such as the fringed gentian, ginseng, golden seal, 

 pitcher plant, lotus, arbutus, the orchids and the like. 

 Plants which are shallow rooted and easily pulled up, 

 like the phlox, hairbell and the cardinal flower, or those 

 in which the leaves are collected with the flowers, such 



