388 FLOWERS. Chap. X. 



that of the Atlas, are distinguished with the greatest ease whilst 

 young, but with difficulty when old. 



Flowers. 



I shall not for several reasons treat the variability of plants which 

 are cultivated for their flowers alone at any great length. Many of 

 our favourite kinds in their present state are the descendants of 

 two or more species crossed and commingled together, and this 

 circumstance alone would render it difficult to detect the difference 

 due to variation. For instance, our Eoses, Petunias, Calceolarias, 

 Fuchsias, Verbenas, Gladioli, Pelargoniums, &c, certainly have had 

 a multiple origin. A botanist well acquainted with the parent- 

 forms would probably detect some curious structural differences in 

 their crossed and cultivated descendant; and he would certainly 

 observe many new and remarkable constitutional peculiarities. I 

 will give a few instances, all relating to the Pelargonium, and taken 

 chiefly from Mr. Beck, 169 a famous cultivator of this plant : some 

 varieties require more water than others; some are "very impatient 

 of the knife if too greedily used in making cuttings ;" some, when 

 potted, scarcely " show a root at the outside of the ball of the earth ;" 

 one variety requires a certain amount of confinement in the pot to 

 make it throw up a flower-stem ; some varieties bloom well at the 

 commencement of the season, others at the close ; one variety is 

 known, 170 which will stand " even pine-apple top and bottom heat, 

 without looking any more drawn than if it had stood in a common 

 greenhouse ; and Blanche Fleur seems as if made on purpose for 

 growing in winter, like many bulbs, and to rest all summer." These 

 odd constitutional peculiarities would enable a plant in a state of 

 nature to become adapted to widely different circumstances and 

 climates. 



Flowers possess little interest under our present point of view, 

 because they have been almost exclusively attended to and selected 

 for their beautiful colour, size, perfect outline, and manner of 

 growth. In these particulars hardly one long-cultivated flower can 

 be named which has not varied greatly. What does a florist care 

 for the shape and structure of the organs of fructification, unless, 

 indeed, they add to the beauty of the flower ? When this is the 

 case, flowers become modified in important points; stamens and 

 pistils may be converted into petals, and additional petals may be 

 developed, as in all double flowers. The process of gradual selection 

 by which flowers have been rendered more and more double, each 

 step in the process of conversion being inherited, has been recorded 

 in several instances. In the so-called double flowers of the 

 Composite, the corollas of the central florets are greatly modified; 

 and the modifications are likewise inherited. In the columbine 



169 'Gardener's Chron.,' 1845, p. dener,' 1860, p. 377. See, also Mr. 

 623. Beck, on the habits of Queen Mab, in 



170 D. Beaton, in 'Cottage Gar- ' Gardener's Chronicle,' 1845, p. 226. 



