310 THE KINDS OF PLANTS 



Learn first to classify plants: names will follow. Look 

 for resemblances, and group the plants around some well- 

 known kind. Look for sunflower-like, lily-like, rose-like, 

 mint-like, mustard-like, pea-like, carrot-like plants. These 

 great groups are families. The families of plants are bet- 

 ter recognized by studying a few representative plants than 

 by memorizing technical descriptions. Go to the botany 

 and use the keys in these families, in order to run the plant 

 down to its genus and species. If the family is not recog- 

 nized, use the key to find the family. Use the keys at first: 

 gradually discard them. When one looks for relationships, 

 the vegetable kingdom comes to have continuity and mean- 

 ing. Merely to know names of plants here and there is of 

 little use. 



It is unwise for the beginner to try first to find the name 

 of any plant. Let him first examine familiar plants or those 

 which seem to be related to other plants that he knows. 

 Let him get in mind the bold characteristics of the families 

 which are most dominant in his locality. After a time, in 

 case of each new plant, he should be able to give a shrewd 

 guess as to its family; then he may go to the book to verify 

 the guess. 



In the following Flora, about fifty well-marked families 

 are chosen for study. Some of them are not the most char- 

 acteristic of American vegetation, but they are such as 

 afford easily accessible species, either in the wild or in culti- 

 vation, and which are not too difficult for the beginner. 

 The pupil should begin with plants of which he knows the 

 common names or with which he is familiar. Several plants 

 should be studied in each family, that he may grasp the 

 characteristics of the family and thereby be led to 

 compare plant-groups and to clarify his perception and 

 widen his horizon. When these families, or the larger 

 part of them, are understood, if the pupil desires further 

 knowledge of species, he may go to the regular manuals in 



