VI PREFACE. 



same sentimental fondness for them as has our little American 

 friend. A wild rose would never say to him : " I despise you ; " 

 nor does he expect a black-eyed Susan to blush from shyness. 



The wild flowers have their own unique personalities. They 

 exist as individuals and reproduce themselves. Every plant is 

 a member of a family and has its relatives quite as well as 

 those of the animal world. To know them it is necessary that 

 we should seek them in their homes : they seldom come to us. 



It is for this reason that a classification according to the soil 

 in which they grow is feasible. It is a tangible point of which 

 to take hold. And although there are some fickle-minded 

 plants that appear to flourish in different kinds of soil, they 

 may be regarded rather as those straying away from family 

 tradition, than as trustworthy examples. As a rule they are 

 partial to particular kinds of soil and do not thrive nearly so 

 well in other than that allotted to them by Dame Nature. The 

 marsh marigold, with which most of us are familiar, when it 

 reaches the sunny, warmer south retires to the wet, cool woods 

 in search of a soil similar to that of its home marshes. The 

 harebell, that is with us a shy plant, hiding itself in shady 

 places and rooting in moist soil, in England ventures out into 

 the meadows and highways. It has there not our midsummer 

 heat with which to contend and finds the soil of the fields not 

 unlike that of our shaded banks. 



It would therefore seem that, putting aside an analysis of 

 their minuter parts, the different species of plants could be 

 most readily known by their locality. With one exception the 

 great family of golden-rods are yellow ; but they do not all 

 grow in the same kind of soil. The knowledge, therefore, that 

 one inhabits a swamp will be of more value to identify it than 

 to know its colour. For the convenience of those, however, 

 that are accustomed to a classification by colour, an index, in 

 which the plants are arranged under the dominant colour of the 

 blossoms, has been provided. 



With the knowledge of this point and knowing also the soil 



