i
FIELD BOOK OF
WESTERN
WILD FLOWERS
By MARGARET ARMSTRONG
IN COLLABORATION WITH
J. J. THORNBER, A.M.
PROFESSOR OF BOTANY IN THE UNIVERSITY OFARIZONA, AND BOTANIST OF THE ARIZONAAGRICULTURAL EXPERIMENTSTATION AT TUCSON
WITH FIVE HUNDRED ILLUSTRATIONS IN BLACKAND WHITE, AND FORTY-EIGHT PLATES IN COLORDRAWN FROM NATURE BY THE AUTHOR
C. P. PUTNAM'S SONS
The Knickerbocker Press
NEW YORK AND LONDON
1915
ii
Copyright, 1915
by
MARGARET ARMSTRONG
The Knickerbocker Press, New York
iii
PREFACE.
In this little book a very large number of the commonerwild flowers growing in the United States, west of theRocky Mountains, are pictured and described. It is thefirst attempt to supply a popular field book for the wholeWest. The field is vast, including within its limits all sortsof climate and soil, producing thousands of flowers, infinitein variety and wonderful in beauty, their environmentoften as different as that of Heine's Pine and Palm. Insuch strange homes as the Grand Canyon and the PetrifiedForest of Arizona, or the deserts of Utah and southernCalifornia, we find the oddest desert plants, forced to curiousexpedients in order to sustain life amidst almost perpetualheat and drought, but often displaying blossoms ofsuch brilliance and delicacy that they might well be enviedby their more fortunate sisters, flourishing beside shadywaterfalls, in a "happy valley" like Yosemite, or a splendidmountain garden, such as spreads in many-coloredparterres of bloom around the feet of Mt. Rainier. On thewind-swept plains hundreds of flowers are to be found;many kinds of hardy plants brighten the salty margins ofthe sea cliffs, or bloom at the edge of the snow on rockymountain peaks, while quantities of humble, everydayflowers border our country roadsides or tint the hills andmeadows with lavish color.
The field included the States of Washington, Oregon,California, Idaho, Nevada, Utah, and Arizona and to designatethis whole field the term West is used in thisbook. The term Northwest designates Washington,Oregon, northern Idaho, and northern California, andthe term Southwest covers southern California andArizona. The flowers found only in the Rocky Mountainsare not included, and it may be noted here that exceedinglyfew of the western flowers cross the Rockies and are foundin the East.iv
This is the only fully illustrated book of western flowers,except Miss Parsons's charming book, which is for Californiaonly. The drawings have all bee