INTRODUCTION 



There may be perverse and misguided folk, who, 

 like myself, have an unaccountable distaste for 

 looking at Mother Nature through the spectacles of 

 Another. One is humbly aware that the "specta- 

 cles" offered by the various writers are admirable; 

 that they clarify and enlarge the vision, place the 

 object in an excellent light and show our much- 

 inspected Mother as wearing the loveliest of com- 

 plexions, and yet — one likes to use his own eye- 

 sight — his own spectacles. To such, this little 

 book will prove a peculiar blessing. It goes no 

 farther than to tell "Who's Who" among the wild 

 flowers, merely giving an introduction and allow- 

 ing one the privilege of making friends with them 

 after the devices of his own heart. 



Mr. Beecroft believes that a portrait if an ex- 

 cellent likeness and true in all its details will en- 

 able the most unskill'd, unpractis'd and unbotan- 

 ical person to recognize his new acquaintance more 

 speedily than much writing of many paragraphs. 

 The drawings are supplemented by the briefest of 

 notes on the personal appearance — only enough to 

 identify, and in the blank spaces "remarks" can be 

 made by the reader who is allowed the chance of 

 making a flower book after the devices of his own 



