chances are that the name you apply, if found eminently appropri- 

 ate and frequently mentioned, is apt to become permanently estab- 

 lished and even to displace another less characteristic. 



The common names of plants aptly portray the genius of a peo- 

 ple. They express disgust at unwarranted intrusions and disagree- 

 able dispositions and flout before us the appearance of the ugly and 

 misshapen. They advertise their evils habits and warn us against 

 their unknown dangers. Some plants harp upon the fact that they 

 furnish food for this or that animal, or have an unfortunate habit 

 of lying in wait and poisoning some unsuspecting herbivore, never 

 thinking that from the point of view of the plant it is acting strict- 

 ly in self-defence. We also find their good qualities often mention- 

 ed, as well as their various and peculiar habits of growth or seed- 

 dissemination, while their friendship for their late friends and ad- 

 mirers, the noble Red Alan, and often even their Indian names, yet 

 cling to them in our popular nomenclature, as a badge of honor and 

 a well-earned recognition of their former services. But it is from 

 their relationships and resemblances, real or imagined, that the 

 greater number of popular names are derived and it is a common 

 habit of an immigrant people to christen the strange plants of their 

 new homes with the names of the loved flowers of their former land 

 and to keep up the old names of the weeds that follow in their 

 footsteps. Yet, the genius of a people finds its most natural ex- 

 pression in the new names given to these new species which bloom 

 around them and it is here that we see the comic, the poetic, the in- 

 dignant hatred, the love and the wild, free happiness of childhood 

 and the country home so often displayed, and we can trace in these 

 names the love of beauty and grace, the boundless admiration and 

 the deepest appreciation of the human heart for the purity, simpli- 

 city and elegance of these gentle flowers of Nature, so lavishly dis- 

 played before us, to charm our minds and hearts away from the 

 ceaseless toil and the evil passions of this social edifice we have 

 built about us to give us rest and inspire us with higher, purer 

 and nobler aims than those we now attempt. 



For convenience of reference two alphabetical lists are given, one 

 of the common names with their scientific equivalents, the other of 

 the scientific names followed by their corresponding common names. 



Valuable assistance in compiling the present work has been render- 

 ed by Airs. E. W. Scheuber of Livingston, Mrs. M. L. Alderson of 

 Bald Butte, Mrs. R. R. Finlay, Amy M. Cooke and Wyatt W. Jones 

 of Bozeman, and the many students of botany at the Montana Agri- 

 cultural College, who have each year contributed to extend the list 

 of names here given. 



