Our Country's Flowers

Abstract

THIS volume is intended to aid beginners to ascertain the botanical name of any British wild flower or fern with which they may meet. After a list of local English plant-names, the serious work of the book begins with an explanation of how plants are classified, interwoven with which are a sufficient number of the terms used in describing plants to make the book “not too technical, but just technical enough” for the reader who desires to have a “nodding acquaintance” with the wild flowers of his own country. This is given first in a chatty style, and then repeated in a convenient tabular form. Next, the essential characters of the natural orders are given, after which the buttercup order, or Ranunculaceæ, is treated of at some length as a pattern of how identifications can be made. This is followed by a glossary of botanical terms, in some of which, in attempting a condensed and popular style, the writer has somewhat distorted the meaning. “Cambium” is erroneously described as a layer of mucilage, instead of a tissue. The characters of the natural orders are again stated, this time in alphabetical sequence, followed by a chapter on the genera, each of which is accompanied by a woodcut, intended to show its diagnostic character, but it is doubtful whether (at least in some of the orders) this is accomplished, as is also the case with some of the specific diagnoses with which the volume closes.