HOW TO KNOW THE WILD FLOWERS 



15 



' The circle of the moon never filled a pond 

 The circle of the sun wets a shepherd." 



While another states : 

 "The bigger the ring, the nearer the wet." 



Whether this is borne out by modern 

 statistics I am not })rej)arecl t(i say, but 

 the only two halos I have photograj^hed 

 were followed by fine weather the next 

 day. 



William J. S. Lockykr. 



HOW TO KNOW THE WILD FLOWERS 



By the REV. H. PUREFOY FITZGERALD, F.L.S. 

 lUustraled with Photoftraphs by HENRY IRVING 



THE FLOWERS OF THE WAYSIDE—I 



WITH the supposition that everyone 

 (and I imagine there can be very 

 few exceptions) who takes a ramble 

 in the country, likes to know the names of 

 the common flowers he is likely to meet 

 with and to understand a little about their 

 life-histories, their romances, and their 

 strivings in the great battle for existence, 

 the intention of these chapters is to serve 

 as an introduction. It has been said that 

 "a little learning is a dangerous thing," 

 and in some instances, undoubtedly, this 

 is true ; but often the reverse is the case, 

 and a little knowledge of common way- 

 side objects, flowers, birds, insects, or 

 whatever they may be, does add to the 

 interest of life to a surprising extent. At 

 any rate, a country walk need never be 

 dull. There is always something to 

 attract the attention ; to divert one's 

 thoughts into other paths, for even the 

 smallest and most insignificant object in 

 creation is capable of imparting a store of 

 knowledge, if only the eyes are open to 

 see and the heart ready to receive. 



Be it understood, then, that the study of 

 botany is not the intention. Botany — that 

 science which, to the beginner, would 

 appear to be a store of difficult and in- 

 comprehensible terms, which have set a 

 great many against it, and often made 

 the would-be lover of flowers hate the 

 very sight of them. It is not given 

 to all to wish to be botanists, but 

 there is implanted in everyone a love of 



Nature, and es])ecially a love of the fl(nvers 

 which brighten to such a degree the face 

 of the earth. Most people like to gather 

 them and to have them near for the sake 

 of their cheerful company and pleasing 

 scents ; at the same time, it is somewhat 

 dull to be surrovmded by companions whose 

 very names are unknown, and to be ig- 

 norant of any small points of interest con- 

 nected with them ; not to understand why 

 one flower is formed in this sha})e and an- 

 other in that ; why one plant grows tall and 

 another lies flat on the ground ; and some 

 of the various ways in which Nature, 

 after many hundreds of years' experience, 

 has adapted each one so that it may the 

 more surely reproduce its own species. 

 A great deal of this can be readily under- 

 stood with a little knowledge, and so much 

 interest may be awakened that it may 

 prove to be but an incentive to under- 

 stand more about the hidden mysteries 

 of the world. 



Under separate headings, then, the more 

 common flowers of the wayside, woodlands, 

 hedgerows, corn-land, and so on, will be 

 here dealt with in turn. The photographs 

 will, so far as is possible, show the jilants 

 growing in their natural haunts ; and those, 

 it is h()])cd, will enable the rambler in his 

 walks to identify the flower, In' showing 

 the mode of growth, the form of the blos- 

 som, the shape of the leaf, and the general 

 a])pearance. The descrij)tions are not 

 intended to form a botanical guide ; if this 



