238 FAMILIAR FLOWERS OF FIELD AND GARDEN. 



liant as the white paper. This is a revelation which, 

 to say the least, is surprising. By no possibility can 

 we obtain a hlue color which is as bright as white, 

 either in the paint box or on the flower petal. So 

 those who, like Thoreau and Bryant, tell us about 

 flowers as blue as the sky, must be allowed a certain 

 latitude in their descriptions, as these are often poetic 

 without being scientiiically true. The bottle gentian, 

 then, is so purplish that we can only call it blue by 

 sufferance ; one moment's comparison of the flower 

 with the blue sky will prove this be^'ond question. 

 Not only in the AVhite Mountains, but in Pennsyl- 

 vania, it is one of the latest fall flowers. Southern 

 Europe has two splendid varieties of the gentian, 

 colored about as blue as a flower can well be — G. 

 Aljnna, which is cup-shaped or vase-shaped with a 

 pointed edge, and G. verna, which is a charming 

 deep blue ; the flower cup has five round petal-like 

 divisions. Also, a floAver of the Pyrenees shows a 

 good blue {Delphinium peregrinu7n\ but this is not 

 as blue as the last-mentioned gentian. There is quite 

 a difference of opinion among botanists as to whether 

 the closed gentian is subject to cross-fertilization, or 

 simply fertilizes itself ; Gray thought the former was 

 the case, and says that he has seen a bumblebee force 

 its way into the corolla ; but Dr. Kunze concludes 

 that the flowers derive no aid from insects. This 



