WILD FLOWERS 



INTRODUCTION 



THAT curious characteristic of the human mind which will 

 scarcely let us rest content in the beauty of an object, but forces 

 us to seek out the something concrete with which the beauty is 

 associated, cannot be better exemplified than by the universal 

 desire to put a label on the object of our admiration, be it 

 picture, or mountain, or tree. For most of us the interest of 

 wild flowers lies chiefly in their aesthetic appeal; and yet, 

 though it does not affect the loveliness of the plant, there are 

 few who do not feel their interest quickened by the knowledge 

 of what the flower is called. To enable that great majority of 

 flower-lovers, which has no acquaintance with the technicalities 

 of botany, to acquire that knowledge is the aim of this book. 

 In such short space little more is possible ; but the attempt has 

 been made to indicate in some cases the peculiar interest that a 

 plant may have for mankind, in others some point worthy of 

 remark in its own life. The reader will also observe that plants 

 do not grow at random in any sort of situation, but that they 

 occur in nature in definite communities, one set preferring the 

 river-side, another the woodland, a third the moor or the 

 pasture. Such indications, though quite inadequate, may be 

 sufficient to widen somewhat the interest of our flowers. 



The number of technical terms has been reduced to a mini- 

 mum, hardly a score of words not in everyday use being em- 

 ployed : the meaning of these will be clear to anyone who has 

 read the following introductory paragraphs. 



GENERAL STRUCTURE OF THE PLANT 



Flowering plants are composed of four distinct sets of organs, 

 to each of which is assigned a particular role in the life of the 

 whole. (1) The Root serves to fix the plant firmly in the soil, 

 and to absorb from the soil the water and the mineral salts 



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