VI INTRODUCTION 



shall I place such "Wandering Jews" as the dandelion and 

 whiteweed ? I can only allow them their vagaries, giving them 

 a place outside the pale of law-abiding plants, among weeds. 



A plant whose encroachment upon our fields and roadsides 

 has fallen within general observation is the Alsike clover 

 {TrifoUum hybridiim) — a rose-tinted, more generous copy of the 

 common white clover. Sometimes in certain localities this 

 pretty clover will spring up everywhere. An explanation 

 which seems plausible is that seeds are dropped from hay- 

 wagons which pass along the country roads — seeds not only 

 of the Alsike clover, but of other flowers. 



The multiplicity of books in recent years on flowers, birds, 

 insects, etc., shows an extraordinary revival of interest in such 

 subjects. Especially are works on plants called for, with the 

 aid of which our common flowers may be recognized by those 

 who have neither time nor the wish to analyze them by dis- 

 secting their minuter parts. And with the pleasure of recog- 

 nition it is not difficult to become acquainted with facts in 

 their life-history and manner of growth. The sundew, for 

 example, becomes invested with peculiar interest once we 

 know that its red, hairy stems and leaves are traps for the 

 imprisonment of small insects on which this plant makes its 

 normal diet. The beautiful colors and strange shapes of 

 orchids are devices for securing visits from insects which 

 make themselves useful as pollen-carriers. Homely, cleistog- 

 amous blossoms of other plants are special devices for self- 

 fertilization. Certain plants cannot bear too great radiation 

 of heat and moisture from their leaf-surfaces at night. They 

 therefore fold their leaves together, greatly diminishing the 

 exposed surface. Such " sleeping " plants are in every door- 

 yard. In fact, many strange stories are told constantly all 

 around us if our ears are only attuned to listen. Few people 

 dream of the number of plants which grow in their immediate 

 neighborhood. In going a short half-mile from the railway 



