The Love of Flowers in America 



ern New Jersey, the Marsh Marigold of 

 other regions (Caltha palu-stris) is invaria- 

 bly a Cowslip. Some children, gathering Pet na 

 Dogtooth Violets by the handful within ffi$ 

 sight of Trinity Church spire, when asked Mdre 

 the name of the flowers, expressed much 

 surprise that the inquirer had never heard 

 of Yellow-bells. Even Shortia, which hid 

 away from botanists for a hundred years, 

 had a name which was common enough 

 to answer every purpose, and the man 

 who first discovered it in any quantity 

 was told by the dwellers in the mountain 

 hamlet, where it was spreading over acres, 

 that it was nothing but Little Coltsfoot. 

 Even where botanical names have not 

 been adopted outright as common ones, 

 they have often been changed, just as 

 Pyxidanthera has become Pyxie to all the 

 dwellers among the New Jersey Pines. 

 There are plenty of common names in 

 every locality which have never found 

 their way into the botanies. 



American women wear flowers for adorn- 

 ment more generally than the women of 

 any other country. This of itself is proof 

 of the genuineness of their love for flow- 



