PLANTS OF YELLOWSTONE NATIONAL PARK 
INTRODUCTION 
The Yellowstone National Park contains a great variety of scenic 
phenomena. There are the incomparably beautiful hot spring ter¬ 
races, the spectacular geysers, the unrivaled Yellowstone Lake, the 
Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone, of almost unbelievable charm, 
and there is the wildlife, both animal and plant. But it is the latter, 
the plant life, that furnishes most of the color and beauty in the 
park. This is no more, and no less, true in the park than else¬ 
where. The whole surface of the earth is made beautiful by the veg¬ 
etation that clothes it. Indeed, it is difficult to imagine what a drab 
place this world would be, were it not beautified by the infinite va¬ 
riety of forms of plant life. In view of these facts, it is not sur¬ 
prising that, for a very large percentage of park visitors the wild 
flowers constitute one of the chief attractions, and that there is a 
constant demand for an illustrated book to aid in identifying the 
various kinds. 
It is for the purpose of supplying this demand that the present 
publication has been prepared. It is the result of several years of 
study in the park by both authors. An effort has been made through¬ 
out the book to avoid technical language, so far as possible, and to 
make use of characters that are readily observed in the field even 
without the use of a lens. We advise anyone who has had no 
botanical training to read all of the introductory matter (pp. 1-8) 
before attempting to use the book. We believe that having done this 
he will be able, by using the keys, descriptions, and illustrations, to 
determine accurately the name of any wild flower or tree that he 
may find in the park. 
The common names used agree, insofar as possible, with “ Stand¬ 
ardized Plant Names prepared by the American Joint Committee 
on Horticultural Nomenclature, supplemented by the personal sug¬ 
gestions of Dr. Frederick Y. Coville, of that Committee. When 
names could not be found in that list, however, some have been 
taken from the u New Manual of Rocky Mountain Botany ” by 
Coulter and Nelson, the “ Flora of the Rocky Mountains and Adja¬ 
cent Plains ” by Rydberg, or the “ Standardized Plant Names ” of 
the United States Forest Service. At best, however, the common 
names of plants are very local in their application. The same plant. 
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