PREFACE. 



The aim of this book is to foster children's love for na- 

 ture and for out of door life by stimulating their interest in 

 living plants, and by leading them to study the habits of 

 their plant neighbors. Out of door life is possible in Cali- 

 fornia all the year round, but to avail one's self fully of this 

 great panacea for mental and physical ills, one must have 

 capacity for enjoying it. There is no stronger incentive to 

 this sort of recreation than genuine enthusiasm for some 

 branch of nature study. No one who has gone into the 

 fields with children, doubts their readiness to acquire this 

 resource, but there must be guidance that leads to keener 

 observation, to a growing acquaintance with nature and a 

 deepening interest in her ways. A book can hardly meet 

 the full requirements of a guide, but supplemented by the 

 direction and sympathy of parent or teacher, it may be of 

 much service. 



Of course these "plants in their homes," should be 

 under the actual observation of the children. The only 

 plants treated at all fully are such as the author has found 

 easily accessible in Southern California, and most of them 

 are common throughout the state. That the study of some 

 of them necessitates special excursions to canon or hillside, 

 is no objection. The greater number, however, are the 

 plants we meet without leaving beaten paths; the filaree 

 and bur-clover, for instance, serve often for illustration, and 



