Introduction 



13 



plantain, squared-stemmed germander, and snowy-petalled bur- 

 head (Echinodorus). 



Vacant lots, alleys and waste places likewise may boast of a 

 rainbow of colors. Earliest spring brings out the tiny white- 

 flowered whitlow grass and the five-rayed yellow Texas stars. 

 In the wake of these follow fragrant yellow, wheel-shaped daisies 

 and Engelmannia similar to the Lindheimeras in habit but 

 having eight yellow rays to each flower. As these mature and 

 fade, large showy poppies dot the fields with blossoms that rival 

 the snowflakes in whiteness, and verbenas and white and pink 

 evening primroses spread over barren ground and hills and tint 

 the fields with their patches of color. The hills are massed with 

 bluebonnets, the State Flower, and sprinkled in the greens and 

 livening railroad tracks and roadsides alike are the poppy-like 

 wine cups. As these plants mature, another ambitious troop 

 push their pale heads up to the sun. Hymenopappus freshens 

 the fields with a white pearly covering that lasts into June, and 

 niggerheads send up their velvety domes through their green 

 mats and compete with their cultivated neighbors through their 

 richness of color and design. In the adjacent fields are brilliant 

 gay colored firewheels and sheets of golden coreopsis rivaling 

 the sun in reflected radiance. July brings to valley and road- 

 side miles of yellow, hiding fences and shrubs, for the sunflowers 

 stand sentinel tall everywhere and make parks no less beautiful 

 than those brought into existence through man's toil and design. 

 Pall likewise keeps her neglected fields and waysides beautiful. 

 Dead stems and faded foliage are concealed by prickly-stemmed 

 yellow nightshades and tiny, yellow flowered broomweeds that 

 produce a succession of blossoms until frost asserts her claims 

 and ends their labor. 



When Nature's gardner keeps up such a wealth of rainbow 

 coloring as this in every alley, field and waste, is it at all sur- 

 prising that Texans consider their State their greatest heritage ? 



NAMES OF PLANTS 

 Plants like people are given names by which they may be 



