FIELDBOOK OF ILLINOIS WILD FLOWERS 



shade for prairie flowers and hence the hroad-leaved shade 

 phants are absent from the grasshinds. The level prairie surface 

 is not well drained, and hence the soil in early spring is too 

 wet for many spring flowers. A little later, however, the prairie 

 violets come in, and late in spring the fields may be pink with 

 phlox and nodding wild onions, while nearby are the pale blue 

 spikes of the wild hyacinth and the golden clumps of the 

 puccoons. 



By midsummer an abundance of plants will have overtopped 

 the grasses and opened their flowers in the full sunlight. Among 

 the conspicuous ones are the white and purple prairie clovers, 

 the milkweeds, the wild morning glories and the verbenas. 

 Late summer brings its mobs of the daisy family, which includes 

 the purple ironweeds and blazing stars, the white and purple 

 asters, and the yellow flowers of the goldenrods, compass plants, 

 coneflowers and sunflowers. Thus the beauty of the spring 

 flowers of the forest is surpassed by the gorgeous display of the 

 prairies in July and August. 



Other flower homes. — Among the floral displays found in 

 other communities are the marsh marigolds and spring cress of 

 the stream side, the violets and yellow buttercups of the flood- 

 plains, and the water lilies of the ponds and lakes. All the 

 communities are worth careful study, and will disclose to the 

 student some insight into the ways of nature and repay the 

 observer with pictures of varying beauty. 



PLANT STRUCTURE 

 A. VEGETATIVE 



The three fundamental kinds of vegetative parts possessed 

 by flowering plants are roots, stems and leaves. These parts 

 are a means ot reproduction in many plants, but more generally 

 they are concerned with growth and the preservation ot the 

 individual. 



Roots. — The true, scientific definition of a root diflfers 

 markedly from the ideas about roots held by people in general. 

 It will serve our purpose here, however, to observe in a general 

 way how roots serve the plant, so that essential ideas ot what a 

 root is and does may be gained. 



Roots generally are descending structures dividing at ir- 

 regular intervals, havin^r a protective structure over the growing 



