434 FREAKS OF PLANT LIFE. 



specimen is a ' make up.' Supposing the ' corona ' 

 of threads to represent the crown of thorns, and the 

 stamens the five nails, the Jesuit artist has just 

 reversed their natural position ; the five stamens — 

 nails — are at the base of the column, while a terribly 

 material crown of thorns occupies the proper place 

 of the stamens at the top of the column. The three 

 stigmas, too, are certainly unusually like spear-heads, 

 so that there can be no question that Aldinus was 

 quite correct when he stated that with the aid of a 

 little straining of the imagination the emblems of the 

 Passion might be as well found in a great many 

 other flowers. It must also be remembered that no 

 two of the older authors agree, one with the other, as 

 to the precise significance of the several parts. By 

 some the coronet is the type of the crown of thorns, 

 while others see in it the ' parted vesture.' The 

 ovary is for some the sponge dipped in gall ; the 

 stamens represent with some the nails, with others 

 the five wounds, each author giving a slightl}- 

 different version ; and Ferrari compares the 'column ' 

 to the pillar to which Christ was attached, and not to 

 the cross, because the gentle nature of the flower did 

 not admit of its reproducing the emblem of the 

 gibbet ! " 1 



' Subsequent critical observations by Mr. A. Forsyth, in 

 "Gardener's Chronicle" (1870), p. 1,409, do not controvert 

 these remarks. 



