The present manual is not intended as a guide to the flora of the state, but it is hoped that it will prove helpful in identifying some of the common flowers. A few rare and beautiful flowers have been included so that they may be recognized and protected. In order to include representatives of the more important plant families, it was impossible because of lack of space to add many widely distributed members of other families represented. For example, the pea family, which has about 300 showy members in Texas, had to be limited to ten representatives.
The water color paintings on which the manual is based were made by the author. In nearly all cases they were made from fresh specimens carefully checked with verified material in the University of Texas Herbarium; a few which could not be painted at the time of collecting were later drawn from pressed specimens and colored from notes and memory.
The flowers of Texas have been so very abundant that only recently has it been considered necessary to protect them. The Legislature of 1933 passed a law forbidding the picking of flowers and injury to trees and shrubs along highways. Even this protection is not sufficient for some plants. A few years ago the writer happened to visit the shop of a cactus fancier just after he had returned from a collecting trip and saw with amazement the large tow-sacks filled with rare and highly prized cacti. Wagon loads of the large and vivid-blooming ribbed cacti have been observed as they were brought in for market. The bluebell, or purple gentian, is in need of protection since florists have been buying them up in such large quantities. The picturesque bunches of sotol are being rapidly destroyed, as ranchmen are stripping them of their saw-toothed leaves and feeding the stalks to their cattle. Yaupon and American holly, both slow-growing plants, are being destroyed to supply the market with Christmas greens.
A few flower sanctuaries have been established in recent years, but many others are needed. The decrease in our native flowers is primarily due to increase in population with the accompanying increases in homesteads and acres in cultivation, over-grazing, and improved facilities of travel. The limestone hill region was formerly a flower paradise but has been so heavily over-grazed by sheep in recent years that now the only flowers to be found are the unattractive rabbit-tobacco, horehound, and queen’s delight, or goatweed, so called because sheep and goats will not eat it.