CHAPTER IX 



ENGLISH AND AMERICAN FLOWERS 



The numerous English writers who have described their 

 impressions of North America tell us all about the people, 

 their manners and customs, their hotels and churches, 

 the mode of travelling and the scenery, the rivers and 

 waterfalls, the mountains and forests, the prairies and 

 deserts ; but hardly ever do they give us any information 

 as to the kind of vegetation that covers the surface of 

 the soil, or the flowers that adorn the roadsides, the 

 forests, or the mountains. Hence it comes to pass that 

 the majority of English readers, even those who delight 

 in the wild flowers of their own country or the more 

 varied beauties of the Alpine flora, have usually the 

 vaguest and most erroneous ideas as to what flowers are 

 to be found in the United States and Canada, and to 

 what extent they resemble or differ from those of our 

 own country. 



There are many circumstances which render it difficult, 

 even for the native who is not a botanist, to learn much 

 about American wild flowers. Confining ourselves at 

 present to the North-Eastern States, we may say that 

 three hundred years ago the whole country was covered 

 with forest, and, with few exceptions, the herbaceous 

 flowering plants were such as grew in the shade of trees 

 or in the few open glades, in bogs, or on the banks of 

 streams. Now, these forests have been so completely 

 cleared away that comparatively little remains in its primi- 

 tive condition, and often over extensive areas hardly a 



