THE IDENTIFICATION OF PLANTS 111 



over that part of the book and learn something 

 of their characteristics. 



Until you are familiar with a few botanical 

 terms you will mainly depend upon pictures 

 for the identification of your plants; so that 

 a freely illustrated Flora will be essential to 

 you. Master the characteristics of the chief 

 Families and you will soon know where to 

 look for most plants when you scan the pages 

 of the book. Later you will rely upon the 

 scientific methods explained in such works. 



How to Know the Wild Flowers is a book 

 that beginners will find most helpful (see p. 

 32). The author has very successfully classi- 

 fied plants first under the colors of their 

 flowers and afterwards under the months in 

 which they appear, a popular method which 

 makes identification delightfully simple and 

 easy. Let us suppose you are trying to 

 identify your Yellow Adder's Tongue by this 

 book. It is yellow, so you look in the section 

 on yellow flowers; and you found it in early 

 spring, so you look near the beginning of that 

 section. The third description exactly fits 

 your plant "Erythroniwm Americanum. 



