CHAPTER III 



parks because they are better suited to our climate than grass. One 

 prominent group of ever-present plants, the cosmopolitan weeds that 

 flourish on the outskirts of cultivation, the pig-weed, cockle-bur, 

 knot-grass, sow-thistle, Spanish-needle, etc., have received little 

 notice here, because a chapter is given to weeds later on. But this is 

 a good time to call attention to them and to see that their names are 

 known, so that in the course of the year the children will become 

 impressed with their prevalence. Of course it is not necessary to 

 know the botanical names of all the plants handled, but if the teacher 

 succeeds at all in fostering children's interest in plants they will want 

 many names, and the teacher should be able to give the names of the 

 native trees of the vicinity, and of the most common weeds and most 

 attractive shrubs and flowers common names when they are well 

 established, otherwise the botanical generic name. 



In the field work, the dead annuals should be pointed out, and there 

 will usually be some woody perennial herbs that have partly died 

 back. The perennials that perish to the ground will be noted in the 

 next chapter. If a stream is visited, water-cress may be found ; note 

 the first fact that the pungent taste probably does not recommend the 

 plant to animals as it does to us. Sometimes very bright summer 

 flowers are found along our water-ways, the yellow Mimulus luteus 

 with its brown spotted throat the children may call it snap-dragon 

 or the bright red Mimulus cardinalis, or the bur marigold, (Bidens 

 chrysanthemoides) a large, showy, yellow Composite. If the stream is 

 in a narrow canon there will be brakes and horsetails, and perhaps 

 our stately Woodwardia fern. But these plants do not really belong 

 to the type we are studying ; they are water-loving plants and should 

 be noted here only on account of their individual merits and by way 

 of contrast. The wild grape, too, grows only where it has plenty of 

 water and so can afford to expose its leaves as fully as possible to the 

 light. It forms a beautiful illustration of leaf-mosaic, but this topic 

 belongs to the next chapter. Of course the clematis fruits, with their 

 beautiful device for seed distribution, would not be passed without 

 notice. 



Perhaps the poison oak and nightshade (Solanum) are hardy 

 enough to be classed with the other plants, but they, the poison oak 

 especially, seek shaded places. They have very long roots with 

 thickened parts that store moisture, and although our nightshades 

 unlike the Kuropean S. ni^raum are not poisonous to man, and some 

 grazing animals can eat poison oak; on the whole these plants seem 

 to be little molested by the animal world. The poison oak begins its 

 period of rest in autumn, but Solanum Douglasii, about I/os Angeles 



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