We should all have at least a nodding acquaintance with most of the plants in the landscape. The fact that we don't even realize that knowing plants is part of what most people know when they live somewhere is an indication of how far removed we are from understanding our place.

This is what I call nature literacy. Because the word literacy is a popular word, and it's considered a bad thing to be illiterate. I say this to make people aware that maybe they are illiterate about nature.

Gary Snyder, Talking on the Water by Jonathan White