f7S ^"^ '^^^ CO»OLtA» OF FLOWERS, 



The bud alters not its colour, but its situation is^hanijed, 

 r:\intsnotto and much will depend on this. How many times have I 



ffOfnthe"iuices ^^*^^^ ^^^ ^ *^"^ >" ^ flower, and found nothing in the least 

 «f flow SIS. to resemble it? 1 was once extremely fond of painting, 

 and sought in flowers for colours their beauty tempted me 

 to think I should find. But how mistaken I was ! I ac- 

 cused my own awkwardness; but, after many trials, wai 

 assured, that the deception was in the flower, which owed 

 little of its beauty to the liquid that inflated it, on the con- 

 trary I was then convinced I must seek for the cause elsewhere, 

 • for in no one instance did the liquid of the flower serve 

 even to stain the paper of the same colour as the flower; 

 and when used, some chemical aid, some process to brighten 

 and preserve, must be resorted to; for it is always dull and 

 poor, so that no one could guess its origin ; a proof, that the 

 flowers owed not their beauty to the liquid colour, but to 

 Changes in something that aided and enlivened it. And drying flow- 

 flowers when ^^B 1 what things are they when done? they are not only 

 bad in themselves, but of the most fatal consequence to 

 botany, where flowers are consulted; fOr they change their 

 colours, get hairy, and undergo many more alterations, 

 which deceive, and cause the most unpleasant mistakes. 

 Sxnell of flow- As to the scent in flowers, it is very easy to trace their 

 contained in secretions, being in bladders, and always divided from the 

 bUd^ers, Other juices (as in leaves). They are generally fixed be- 



tween the upper skin and pabulum ; though in some few 

 flowers (as in the geranium) they are to be found in the 

 scallop of the petal. The scent is in every flower an oil, 

 and must be extremely strong, when such diminutive blad- 

 ders can so perfume the air ; if we could gain it pure, it 

 which have would not want any chemical aid to strengthen it. It was 

 foTlarf i'po^es" ^^^« bladders that used to be taken for the largest pores 



in flowers. 

 Difference be- I have now given a short sketch of corollas in general, 



tweenperspira- j |^ jj ^^^^^ therefore by a few observations on the pores 

 tiou and eva- • ^ 



poratioo. observed in flowers ; and endeavour to show the extreme 



difference in botany between the two terms perspiration 



and evaporation. If I had published this letter two years 



ago, which I was on the point of doing, I should have 



Twoiomof **i<^> *s all the botanists do, that there were two sorts of 



poreu 



