THE FLOWER FAMILY ALBUM This page intentionally left blank 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 +J 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