FOREWORD 



variations being so great that several examples need to 

 be studied before the recording of characteristic facts. 

 May we advise you, whenever possible, to examine sev- 

 eral specimens before giving up the identification of your 

 flower with the description or drawing ? Yet this advice 

 entails a warning, for, knowing the danger of extermina- 

 tion, the flower-lover's perennial care is one of respect, a 

 discrimination among the flowers, and a continual anxiety 

 for the rare ones. 



The author acknowledges indebtedness to the following 

 books of reference : Manual of Botany, 7th edition, Gray ; 

 Flora of tht. Eastern United States and of Canada, Britton 

 and Brown; The Ferns and Flowering Plants of Nantucket, 

 Mr. Eugene P. Bicknell; Plants Growing without Cultivation 

 on the Island of Nantucket, Mrs. Maria L. Owen; and The 

 Household Physician, Warren. She wishes to express her 

 gratitude to Mr. Eugene P. Bicknell; Dr. John Borne- 

 man; Mr. Stewardson Brown; Dr. Joseph Cushman; Miss 

 Grace Brown Gardner; Dr. John W. Harshberger; Mrs. 

 Charles S. Hinchman; Mr. F. Schuyler Mathews; Mrs. 

 Stokeley Morgan; Mr. S. N. F. Sanford; Mrs. Edw. 

 Sturdevant; and to many others, whose names it would 

 be a pleasure to record here, did space permit. 



A. O. A. 



