INTRODUCTION. 



necessarily retain the Latin names and surrender the 

 advantage of those direct, crisp terms which express 

 volumes to students who understand them and nothing at 

 all to others who do not. On the other hand, we can re- 

 sort to the drawing, which often expresses more at the 

 glance of the eye than the best turned phrase, technical 

 or otherwise ; so with plain English and the plainer 

 drawing, one ought to be able to identify a plant with- 

 out great difficulty. 



To be sure, one is continually running into " snags" ; 

 it is not all plain sailing even for the botanist. 

 Rules are all very well in their way, but unfortunately 

 Nature abides by them only when it suits her conven- 

 ience. There are hybrids and extreme forms galore ; 

 there are puzzling groups, difficult families, and differ- 

 ences of expert opinion ; in fact there are so many prob- 

 lems for one to solve that the very interest in botany lies 

 in their solution. The roses seem to be indifferently sep- 

 arated. The genus Polygonum is simple only to one who 

 is satisfied to know about three species. The Epildbiums 

 are not all easily distinguished apart. Sisyrinchium, 

 that beautiful little blue-eyed grass, shows signs of com- 

 plications relative to species which prove that it is not 

 as simple as it looks. Pentstemon occasionally puzzles 

 one by taking a half-way form. Sagittaria, the genius 

 of the sluggish river, tries to be everything it ought not 

 to be in leaf and flower, so Mr. J. G. Smith settles the 

 matter by calling the forms a, b, c, d, etc. Even the 

 dandelion and the strawberry have lost their simplicity, 

 and now each poses as one of two very distinct species. 

 Then there is Lactuca what a puzzler ! Anyone who 

 knows Lactuca despairs about its leaves ; a third of the 

 way up the plant-stem they represent one species, half- 

 way up they represent another, and at the finish the 

 flowers take up the disagreement where the leaves leave 

 off, and declare for a third. I have known one plant, 

 Lactuca Canadensis, to look like three things all at once ! 

 When one reaches the mints, whatever trouble existed 

 before seems child's play ; here is an order of plants 

 which was apparently created for the express purpose of 

 convincing the amateur that he can never master botany, 

 xvi 



