Table Of ContentTHE FLOWER FAMILY ALBUM
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THE
jkwenamty
AIBUM
FAMILY HISTORIES BY HELEN FIELD FISCHER AND
Radio Garden Consultant
PORTRAITS BY GRETGHEN FISCHER HARSHBARGER
Landscape Architect and Horticultural Illustrator
Published by the
University of Minnesota Press, Minneapolis
Copyright 1941 by the
UNIVERSITY OF MINNESOTA
All rights reserved. No part of this book
may be reproduced in any form with-
out the written permission of the pub-
lisher. Permission is hereby granted to
reviewers to quote brief passages in a
review to be printed in a magazine or
newspaper.
Table of Contents
WE WROTE THIS BOOK FOR YOU
HOW FLOWERS DEVELOPED AND GOT THEIR NAMES 1
HOW TO USE THIS BOOK 3
THE ARUM OR CALLA FAMILY 4
SPIDERWORTS AND ORCHIDS 6
WHAT IS A LILY? 8
MOSTLY SPRING-FLOWERING BULBS 1O
WILD COUSINS OF THE LILIES 12
LESS KNOWN LILY FOLK 14
THE AMARYLLIS FAMILY l6
THE "POOR MAN'S ORCHID" 18
IRIS RELATIVES 2O
TWO NOTORIOUS WEEDS, AND THE LOOSESTRIFES 22
SMARTWEEDS WITH MANY KNEES 24
THE EVERLASTING PIGWEEDS 26
PART-TIME FLOWERS 28
THE FRAGRANT PINKS gO
MORE MEMBERS OF THE PINK FAMILY 32
BUTTERCUPS 34
ANEMONES WITH COLLARS 36
BUTTERCUPS IN DEEP DISGUISE 38
CLEMATIS AND PEONY 4O
THE POPPIES 42
PARADE OF HEARTS 44
THE PEPPERY MUSTARDS 46
SUCCULENTS 48
THE ROSE FAMILY 50
THE "ROCK BREAKERS" 52
THE PEAS 54
CLIMBING PEAS AND SOME PRAIRIE FLOWERS 56
FLAX, GERANIUM, AND OXALIS 58
SPURGES WITH FLOWER-LIKE LEAVES 60
SNAPWEED, NASTURTIUM, AND BEGONIA 62
THE SHOWY MALLOWS 64
VIOLETS AND PANSIES 66
FLOWERS THAT COUNT THEIR PARTS BY FOURS 68
THE CUT-LEAVED CARROTS 7O
THE PRIMROSES 72
GENTIANS AND SOME WINTER BOUQUET MATERIAL 74
THE GLOSSY-LEAVED DOGBANES 76
MILKWEEDS WITH DOWN-FILLED PODS 78
MORNING-GLORIES 80
THE AMERICAN-BORN PHLOXES 82
FORGET-ME-NOTS AND OTHER BLUE BORAGES 84
VERBENA AND WATER-LEAF 86
FLAVORSOME MINTS 88
MINTS WITH CONSPICUOUS FLOWERS QO
NIGHTSHADES, SOME EDIBLE, SOME POISONOUS 92
HANDSOME COUSINS OF THE EARTHY POTATO 94
FLOWERS WITH JAWS 96
MORE ODD FACES 08
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WINDOW GARDEN FAVORITES AND THE LOBELIAS 1OO
THE BELLFLOWERS 1O2
SOME INTERESTING STRAYS 104
COOPERATIVE FLOWERS 1O6
TRUMPETS THAT GET TOGETHER 1O8
ASTERS HO
DAISIES ARE CHRYSANTHEMUMS 112
FRAGRANT-FOLIAGED CHRYSANTHEMUM KIN 114
FOR THOSE WHO LIKE YELLOW 1 16
CONE-FLOWERS 1 18
SOME TOUGH CUSTOMERS 12O
FLOSSFLOWERS 122
LETTUCE AND OTHER PAINTBRUSH FLOWERS 124
INDEX 126
We Wrote This Book for You
Did you know that the Pigweed and the Cockscomb are brothers? The Purs-
lane and the Rose Moss? The Potato and the Petunia?
It's an old story to the botanists, but to those who know their flowers not
as specimens but as pleasant companions, there is a big thrill in learning more of
their family trees. All too often the scientific language that tells about them
seems too difficult for beginners to understand.
This book is a short cut by a pleasant road. We think it will soon have you
figuring out flower family resemblances as easily as you can guess to which neigh-
bor belong the children who pass your door.
There are not many flower families represented in our gardens. It is rather
a disgrace not to know them when you consider that they feed us, clothe us, and
provide our shelter. In fact, any one of several plant families could take care of
the world alone, if need be, as you will discover in this book.
We have brought together, family by family, the weeds, flowers, and vege-
tables that you know best. We could not show them all of course, so we selected
a representative sampling. With each group we have given you a key flower that
shows strongly the "family look," and have added a few clues that are helpful
in making snap identifications.
Each page is like a family reunion in that it contains the plodding and the
gifted, the useful and the mischievous, the thrifty and the shiftless, and perhaps
even one who has "made good in the city." We have added a little gossip about
them to awaken your interest.
The illustrations are all drawn to the same scale. Where individual blossoms
are enlarged, they are in scale with each other and about half their actual size.
Since individual plants vary because of local conditions, these may not be exactly
the height of the ones you know. Where the plant was too bushy to be used full
width, we selected typical individual branches. Every picture was sketched from
a real, growing plant.
The families are arranged in botanical sequence according to Bailey's Stand-
ard Cyclopedia of Horticulture. In the spelling of names of flowers we have fol-
lowed Bailey's Manual of Cultivated Plants for cultivated flowers and Gray's New
Manual of Botany for wild flowers.
We wish to express our gratitude to the ancient writers who wove glamor-
ous legends around flowers; to the soldiers who carried home bulbs and seeds
from far countries; to merry-hearted Carolus Linnaeus, who added system to
romance; to Asa Gray, who collected and listed our American flora; and to L. H.
Bailey, E. L. D. Seymour, Schuyler Matthews, Alfred Hottes, Anna B. Corn-
stock, Donald C. Peattie, and others, who illumined this knowledge and placed
it in volumes easily accessible.
In particular we want to thank the thousands of radio friends who have led
us on by their eager questions and who furnished living specimens of plants not
otherwise available. We are also indebted to Dr. W. A. Anderson, Dr. Clyde
Fisher, and E. L. D. Seymour, all of whom gave us valued criticism.
H. F. F. and G. F. H.
THE FLOWER FAMILY ALBUM
