66 SAGACITY AND MORALITY OF PLANTS. 



would be inclined to call real flowers, varying from 

 the smallest sized, feeblest coloured, and unperfumed 

 of the species blessed with occasional crossing, to 

 the gorgeous floral aristocrats which cannot exist 

 without it, and must be supplied with it Between 

 the Chickweeds, and the Peonies and Magnolias, 

 there is intercalated a series so beautifully graduated 

 according to their needs that it would be difficult to 

 find a genuine hiatus, could we only bring all the 

 species of flowers in the world together for com- 

 parison ! 



Still, in the mind of the observer, this last group 

 of flowers would be distinguished from the first 

 mentioned by their possessing petals. Popular 

 opinion associates those usually brightly -coloured 

 and always beautiful parts with flowers themselves 

 (as we may see in the artificial kinds used for 

 feminine adornment), and it cannot conceive those 

 are real flowers which do not possess them. 



In reality, as we have already seen, a genuine 

 flower requires only stamens and pistils^ and these 

 are present in varying numbers, as the classification 

 of Linnaeus shows us. They are the only genuine 

 reproductive organs of flowers, — all the rest are mere 

 "helpmeets," — and yet these auxiliary parts of 

 flowers have always affected mankind most. 



Is there no explanation to account for the two 

 great divisions of unattractive flowers, and flowers 

 rendered attractive by auxiliary aids and helps ? 



