WILD FLOWERS THAT BOYS AND GIRLS SHOULD KNOW 



475 



I 



when you first coinnience will be good pictures of flowers, 

 to compare with those you gather in the woods. So 

 you see we have given you a whole lot oi pictures here 

 "to go by," as they say ; surely you will find out the 

 names of some of the flowers in the woods and fields 

 where you have been by comparing them with these. 



Always remember 

 that you have not the 

 color in the picture to 

 help you ; but this 

 does not apply to 

 w kite flowers, or 

 those that photograph 

 white, as many do. 

 All the flowers here 

 shown were collected 

 within a few miles of 

 Washington ; but then 



A FUNNY-LOOKING PLANT 



Fig. 4. These have prickly, very thick, paddle- 

 shaped joints, with sharp, needle-like points scattereQ 

 over them. It is a true cactus, and the only one 

 found in the Eastern States. The joints correspond 

 to the stems of other plants, and the spines to the 

 leaves. In the summer it has handsome yellow 

 liowers on it. 



TWO ONIONS? NO 



Fig. 5. Some boys might think that we 

 have two onions here; but they will have 

 to guess again. Really, it is a couple of 

 Grape Hyacinths, and some people call it 

 Baby's Breath, because it smells so sweet! 

 It* flowers look like a little bunch of pur- 

 ple grapes. 



that does not matter, for they 

 are to be found over nearly all 

 the eastern parts of the United 

 States, and some of them far 

 to the westward. 



If you have been scouting 

 lately, that is, during this month, 

 down through the wet places in 

 the meadows, where it is a little 

 shady, or along some of the 

 streams, you may have noticed 

 flowers having the form of the 

 one here shown in Figure 1. 



They are usually of a very red color, and you can see them at cjuite 

 a distance, for the straight stems that bear them may be nearly five 

 feet high, and the flowers well above the tall grass where they grow. 

 .Sometimes you will find this bright red Cardinal flower, or Red Lo- 

 belia, as it is sometimes called, growing all by itself in some shady place 

 in the middle of a swamp or marsh. You must not pick any more of 

 these than you can help, as there are not many of them left ; for, for 

 many years, their lovely red color has attracted all beholders, and they 

 have been gathered so mercilessly that now, in our time, they are hard spriiig, but may . ,. ^ 



'^ -' ... hundreds of them grow in the meadow, and not 



to find, as nearly all are gone. Indeed, this should guide you with re- very far apart, so you cannot mistake them. 



THIS HAS A PECULIAR NAME 



Fig. 6. Sometimes, down in the moist 

 places, but more often in the woods or in 

 sandy soil, you will find this curious-look- 

 ing plant, with its yellow flowers. It is 

 the Four-leaved Loosestrife; but where the 

 leaves start there may be as many as six 

 leaves, as in the picture, just below the 

 Dragon-fly. 



THE CORN MUSTARD PLANT 



Fig. 7. Here is a plant that has very showy bright 

 yellow flowers. They come out very early in the 

 last well into the fall. Sometimes 



