July 7, 1863. ] 



JOURNAL OF HOETICULTtTBE AND COTTAGE GARDENEE. 



11 



centre or throat of orange-yellow. In the Pansy, so rich 

 and soft, that it has obtained the name of " Heai-t's-ease," 

 we have yellow and purple of various hues and degrees of 

 intensity, brightened by a mixtiu-e of white. In the Daisy, 

 described as " crimson-tipped," by Burns, there is the 

 yeUow disk, harmonising both with the white ray and piu'ple 

 on its tips. These flowers are favourites with aU classes, 

 peer and peasant, old man and young maiden, countrjonan 

 and townsman. They pleased us in out childhood, when we 

 seized them, and sought possession of them so eagerly, but 

 found them fading, like all earthly enjoyments. 



The frequent juxt?-position of complementary colom-s must 

 have a physical as well as a final cause. If it be asked, 

 What this is ? we are inclined to answer by asking another 

 question, the answer to which may possibly thi-ov/ a light upon 

 the first. When a beam of light falls on a green leaf, the 

 gi-een is said to be reflected and the red absorbed ; but we 

 ask, What becomes of the red ? When the beam falls on a 

 purple petal, the purple is said to be reflected and the yellow 



absorbed ; but what becomes of the yellow ? Are the red 

 and yellow in these cases absolutely lost? If these con- 

 stituents of the beam be lost, they are the only powers in 

 natiu'e which are. In this world of ours, nothing which has 

 existed is lost ; as nothing new absolutely comes into being. 

 It is now a received doctrine, that the heat absorbed by 

 plants, in the geological era of the coal measures, is laid up 

 in fossil deposits, and may come forth iu our ejioch when 

 the coal is ignited. May we not suppose, in like manner, 

 that the red absorbed by the plant, when the green is re- 

 flected by its leaves, will come forth, sooner or later, in some 

 form — in young stem, flower, or fruit ; and that the yellow 

 absorbed by the flower, when the purple is reflected, will 

 come out in the yellow pollen, or in some other form ? We 

 have thought, at times, that as the pm-e white beam, when 

 it reaches the earth with its atmosphere, is divided into 

 several rays, and that no one of these is lost, and as they 

 wfll come forth sooner or later, we have thus a harmony of 

 coloiu's in natui'e. — (Amerlean Gardener' t- Monthly.) 



TmOPEDKTM Li:yDENII. 



Ip this is not the most brilliant, it is at least the most | ered for the fii-st time in Europe, 

 singular of terrestrial 

 Orcliids. For gardens 

 it is a rare curiosity, 

 for botanists a perfect 

 wonder, and an object 

 of just pride for the 

 enterprising cultivator 

 who introduced it. 

 The cuai-aeters of the 

 type may be stated in 

 a few words: — It is 

 a Cypiipedium, the la- 

 bellum of which, in- 

 stead of being formed 

 like a slipper, extends 

 in that of a tongue, 

 becoming nai-row and 

 extending downwards, 

 like the other divisions, 

 in the form of a narrow 

 band. The sepals are 

 of a yellowish-white 

 colour ; the two inferior 

 lire joined together in 

 one, about 2 inches 

 long, and striated with 

 greenish nerves. The 

 petals (including the 

 labeUum), extend to at 

 least a foot in length: 

 they axe pale, striated 

 in face of their internal 

 base, having a spot on 

 the two posterior cor- 

 ners or horns of the 

 depressed caruncle or 

 protuberance which 

 sui'mounts the gyno- 

 stem or column. 



This noble plant is a 

 native of New Grenada, 

 where Mr. Linden dis- 

 covered it 1843, in the 

 territory of Chiguara, 

 in the small woods of 

 the Savannah, which 

 rise on the Cordilleras 

 to an altitude of 1650 

 metres, or fully 5500 ft., 

 and overlooking the 

 vast forests of Mara- 

 caybo. It has been de- 

 scribed by Dr. Lind- 

 ley from a dried speci- 

 men : and was flrst flow- 



in the rich collection of 

 M. Pescatore, at liis 

 Chateau, CeUe, near 

 St. Cloud. 



It is worth while to 

 consider for a moment 

 one of the most curious 

 examples of that law 

 which is justly called 

 the law of balance in 

 the organs (of plants). 

 According to a funda- 

 mental rule of symme- 

 try in their flowers. 

 Orchids shoiild have a 

 verticil of three sta- 

 mens, alternating with 

 the interior parts of 

 their perianth. Now, 

 in consequence of a 

 normal abortion with 

 the generality of these 

 plants, the posterior 

 stamen exists only in a 

 state of fertility; the 

 two lateral ones having 

 disappeaa-ed, or being 

 only present in a state 

 of sterile protuberance 

 on the gynostem or 

 column. In the Cy- 

 pripediums on the con- 

 trary ( Cypa-ipedium, 

 Uropedium), the pos- 

 terior anther is replaced 

 by a fleshy caruncle, 

 but to compensate for 

 this, the two lateral 

 anthers exist in a per- 

 fect state. If we add 

 the one-stamenedflower 

 of an Orchid (Orchis), 

 to the two-stamened 

 flower of the Urope- 

 dium, we obtain the 

 three-stamened flower 

 of the ideal and sym- 

 metrical type of the 

 Orchid faruily ; and 

 thus, in botanical arith- 

 metic, as in ordinary 

 calculations, two added 

 to one make three. — 

 (Dk. Planchon, Flore 

 des SSerres.) 



