HARPER'S GUIDE TO 

 WILD FLOWERS 



CHAPTER I 



PLAN OF THIS BOOK 



Few dream of the numbers of flowers which grow all 

 around them. In a short walk one may come across fifty 

 species, and, sitting upon the ground in the woods in sum- 

 mer, one may touch twenty or thirty without moving. 



The study of flowers may be called pre-eminently a vaca- 

 tion pursuit, since the summer, our leisure time, is the flow- 

 ering season. Walking is in danger of becoming a lost art 

 unless some purpose other than healthful exercise is found. 

 Let our little friends of the fields and woods entice us, 

 and their acquaintance, by the help of the Guide, will prove 

 a fascinating pursuit. 



It is not only the names of the wild flowers which we all 

 want to know, but the prominent facts connected with their 

 life history. Such facts as the following may be learned: 



The red, fuzzy leaves and stems of the sundew are neat 

 little traps for catching small insects upon which this plant 

 varies its normal diet. 



The rich colors and strange shapes of orchids and many 

 other flowers are devices for securing the visits of insects 

 which are useful to the flower as pollen-carriers. 



Some flowers, in case they fail to secure insect pollination, 

 produce "hidden blossoms" (cletstogamous) , which have no 

 beauty of form or color, but which remain closed until after 

 pollination has taken place. 



