INTRODUCTION 



This book explains the easiest way of telling flowers and 

 plants. These ways are based upon the new classification. 



This classification is the one presented in the seventh edi- 

 tion of Gray's Manual of Botany, published in 1908. It em- 

 bodies the decisions of the Vienna Congress of 1905. The 

 Congress came to an agreement respecting the botanical 

 names and classifications of American flowers, which we 

 hope will not need to be revised. Some old names, dear to 

 us, have come back. Greater simplicity as well as perma- 

 nency has been aimed for. 



The first way of telling flowers is by color. It is the simplest 

 means of identification, and to this the most space is given. 



Secondly, flowers may be identified by their dwelling- 

 places or habitats. 



Thirdly, flowers are shown by seasons, the time and order 

 of their blossoms. 



This book is a Guide to the flowering plants of the 

 Atlantic seaboard, New England, the Middle States, and, 

 to a limited extent, of the Southern States. It is interest- 

 ing to note the wide latitudinal range of some plants 

 along the entire Atlantic coast. As the climate grows 

 warmer, plants ascend the mountains, and New Eng- 

 land vegetation reappears two thousand feet high in Vir- 

 ginia. Plants which are "local," and but seldom found, 

 the size of this book excludes. Plant immigrants, unless 

 well established, are not enumerated. 



Taking New York as the center of a wide circle, any per- 

 son possessing no knowledge of botany (except such as may 

 be acquired from the "Explanation of Technical Terms") 

 may identify any flower and learn something of its story. 

 There is every reason to believe that there is need of a book 

 complete in its means of identification. 



