INTRODUCTION. xvii 



to agree with the structure under examination, he is di- 

 rected what to look for next; and if there is no agree- 

 ment, he is told what to do. The same process is repeat- 

 ed over and over again to the end, with very little mental 

 benefit. The key is simply an elaborate substitution of 

 blind groping for the intelligent action of the pupil's own 

 faculties. The scholar undertakes that for which he has 

 had no preparation and which is beyond his ability ; and 

 in most cases he is too worried and confused by this 

 unintelligible process to be able, when he sees another 

 plant of similar structure, to recognize it. The law that 

 time is needed for the accumulation and orderly assimila- 

 tion of observations and the acquirement of clear ideas 

 has been neglected, and so all his after- work in descriptive 

 botany is wasted. By the present method, however, while 

 the pupil is studying the structure of plants, his reflective 

 faculties are all the while taxed to decide concerning their 

 relationships. And when all those plant-characters upon 

 which science insists have become familiar, so that the eye 

 at once seizes upon them, the exercise of judgment in de- 

 termining the groups to which a plant belongs is spontane- 

 ous and inevitable. 



The popular Flora contained in this work will serve 

 as a thorough preparation for the use of complete manuals. 

 It will acquaint the pupil with the leading orders and 

 genera of plants, and with those representative species 

 having the widest range, which are found everywhere, and 

 will most help the learner in mastering the principles of 

 classification. It has been prepared under the immediate 

 supervision of Dr. Byron D. Halsted, Professor of Botany 

 in the Agricultural College of Ames, Iowa, whose extended 

 and thorough knowledge of the science is an assurance 

 that the work is accurate and in accordance with the most 

 advanced views of systematic botany. 



While the portion of botany to which this volume is 

 devoted can not be learned from books, there is another 



