THE AMERICAN BOTANIST. 
A knowledge of the names of plants is far from con- 
stituting a botanical education, but it is usually the first step 
in that direction. There are two ways of obtaining these 
names: one by a careful study of botanical terms and the 
relation of the parts of the plant to each other, after which 
any native plant may be easily run down by means of the 
keys in the manual ; the other by the more or less artificial 
schemes in the popular handbooks, such as the identifica- 
tion of flowers on the basis of color, habitat, etc. Since 
this latter method appeals most strongly to the beginner, 
we will take it up first. 
In my opinion, if one wishes to know the names of our 
showy wildflowers only, Dana's "How to Know the Wild- 
flowers" (v$.2.16) is still far ahead of all competitors in the 
Xortheastern States and Canarla. On the west coast Far- 
sons' "AVildflowers of California" ( $:2.00) is a most desir- 
able book. For the Gulf States, Lounsberry's "Southern 
Wildflowers and Trees" ($3.71), though having various 
defects, is the only popular work. There are several other 
books gcKxl for use in the Ea^stem States, among which may 
be mentioned .Matthews' "Fiekl-Rook of American Wild- 
flowers" (SI. ST) and Lr-unsterrv's "Guide to the Wild- 
flowers" (.Sl.OO). ^j^^^^ ^^^^ profusely illustrated, and 
when one is really interested in the wildflowers. all are likely 
to find their way to his book-shelves in time. Each treats 
the subject s<^mewhat differently. s<-) that one may gain val- 
uable help from this multitude of counselors. 
It is to be regretted that so many people lose interest 
in the plants as s<>..n as they learn their names. Fossibly this 
is due in part to the popular handl>ooks themselves, which 
give prominence only to the plants with conspicuous flowers 
and often ignore the others entirely. When one has become 
pretty tamiiiar with his popular txx^ks he is frequentiv ex- 
asperated to find that they dr> not contain a mentis of 
