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THE NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC MAGAZINE 



life made especially for this Magazine by 

 Mary E. Eaton, of the New York Bo- 

 tanical Garden. 



In making their choices the legislatures, 

 women's clubs, and school children of the 

 several States were confronted in every 

 instance by a plethora rather than a 

 paucity of floral treasures from which to 

 select a favorite, for the United States 

 contains a much greater number of spe- 

 cies of wild flowers than any equal area 

 on the globe. 



Nations have long honored particular 

 flowers with heartiness and devotion — 

 Ireland, the shamrock, that beautiful bit 

 of green with which it is alleged St. Pat- 

 rick demonstrated the doctrine of the 

 Trinity ; Scotland, the thistle, which 

 pricked the foot of the Dane and awak- 

 ened all Scotland with his cry of pain, 

 saving her from the heel of the invader; 

 and France, the lily, which Ruskin called 

 the flower of chivalrv (the iris, or blue 

 flag). 



Our series pictures every flower that 

 has been chosen by legislative action or is 

 regarded by common consent as the State 

 flower. But in cases where different spe- 

 cies of the same flower have been selected 

 by several States, only one specimen is 

 pictured (as the goldenrod, violet, rose, 

 and rhododendron). 



SOME OF THE DIFFICULTIES OF MAKING 

 THIS COLLECTION 



Some difficulty, however, has been ex- 

 perienced in the selection of the exact 

 species to be portrayed. For instance, in 

 the case of Minnesota, although the act 

 of the legislature gives the name of the 

 flower chosen as Cypripedium calceolus, 

 the extract from the official year book of 

 the State, furnished the National Geo- 

 graphic Society by the Secretary of State, 

 gives six different species as representa- 

 tive of the State flower, among which is 

 Cypripedium acaulc, but among which 

 Cypripedium calceolus does not appear. 



Again, in the case of Nebraska, the act 

 of the legislature choosing the goldenrod 

 as the official flower designates Solidago 

 serotina as the particular species. On 

 the other hand, this species is not the 

 most widely distributed in other States 



which have a preference for the golden- 

 rod. It is believed that Solidago nemo- 

 ralis (page 511) is one of the most rep- 

 resentative goldenrods, and one which 

 would be probably the composite of pref- 

 erences of all of the States having that 

 flower, either officially or unofficially. 



Colorado's legislature expressly names 

 the "white and lavender columbine," with 

 no Latin name attached, as the State 

 flower; yet today, through a later vote of 

 the school children, the blue and white 

 columbine is everywhere in Colorado rec- 

 ognized as the State flower. 



The acts of the Arkansas and Michi- 

 gan legislatures simply call for "the apple 

 blossom." The Illinois law refers to its 

 preference only as "the native violet," of 

 which there are numerous species, while 

 the Louisiana law names no species, but 

 simply says "magnolia." The Delaware 

 law gives no scientific designation, but 

 speaks only of "the peach blossom." 



The resolution of the Ohio legislature 

 names the "scarlet carnation," while in 

 the Indiana law the only designation is 

 "the carnation." Remembering how many 

 colors of carnation there are in existence 

 today, the one chosen was left, in the case 

 of Indiana, to the discretion of the artist. 



The reader should note that the carna- 

 tion pictured on page 507 is really too 

 deep a red for the State flower of Ohio, 

 which has a brighter tone. 



When the State of Kansas came to 

 adopt the sunflower, the resolution of the 

 legislature used the term "helianthus, or 

 wild native sunflower." 



The resolution of the legislature of 

 Texas sets forth that the State flower is 

 "Lupinus subcamosus, commonly known 

 as the buffalo clover, or bluebonnet." 

 There appears to be so little difference 

 between Lupinus subcamosus and Lu- 

 pinus texensis that no distinction what- 

 ever is made between them by the aver- 

 age Texan in plucking the State flower. 



In the case of the South Dakota flower, 

 while the artist portrays the species of 

 pasque flower known as Pulsatilla patens, 

 the South Dakota law designates the 

 Anemone patens. The main difference 

 between the two seems to be the matter 

 of a name, since the pasque flower is the 



