CHAPTER VI 

 THE IDENTIFICATION OF PLANTS 



Early identification Difficulty of identifying many 

 after pressing Examination of the Cuckoo Flower 

 Scientific methods of identification useless to be- 

 ginners An examination of Mathews's Field Book 

 A popular and simple method of classification Ex- 

 ample of plant description. 



flowers should be identified as soon 

 as possible after gathering for they wither 

 very quickly. If your Flora is of portable size, 

 take it into the fields and lanes and identify 

 your plants under the blue sky. There you 

 can compare any number of examples with the 

 printed descriptions ; you can verify every de- 

 tail in each example; and the plant's mode of 

 growth will impress itself more vividly upon 

 your mind. Flower-books, too, seem less 

 learned and terrifying when studied in the 

 open air, and tiny penciled notes may be jotted 

 in their margins telling where and when you 



found the plants, so that the pages become rich 

 101 



