THE GARDEN PRIMER 



them; but there are very many things which we already 

 know commonly under their true names. Why not 

 know all of them? By doing so you will find yourself 

 able to trace relationships among plants and plant 

 families which you have never dreamed of. 



There is, for example, the gigantic yet delicately 

 lovely moon flower which blossoms only in the even- 

 ing, the ever alluring morning-glory which opens with 

 the sunrise, and the lacy foliaged cypress vine which 

 bears its tiny, starry flowers all day, the same as other 

 plants all members of a family named Ipomoea, 

 and all sharing a peculiar family idiosyncrasy in the 

 shape of a toughened seed which must be soaked or 

 filed before planting, in order to promote free germi- 

 nation. This is a very extensive family by the way, 

 comprising something over three hundred members 

 living in all parts of the world, each bearing a dis- 

 tinctly traceable resemblance to its kin. 



Perhaps it will help you to understand the matter 

 better if you compare the name of the plant with the 

 name of a person, and fix in your mind the likeness 

 between them. For instance, a certain individual is 

 a Brown, let us say, a comparison to a certain plant 

 being a phlox. That is the generic or family name. 

 But which Brown is he? Why, John Brown, to 

 be sure (or perhaps James Brown), that is the same as 

 a Phlox being phlox decussata (or perhaps phlox Drum- 

 mondii), only with the plants the names are reversed 

 you see, as we find the Browns in the directory reading 

 ' 'Brown, John," but it means just the same as John 



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