NATURAL HISTORY STUDIES 



The Colours of Flowers 



The growing intensity of plant life is registered 

 in the increasing brightness of the colours of the 

 flowers. For although there are many bright 

 flowers in early spring the marsh marigold, which 

 raises its golden cups from the ditch ; the yellow 

 celandine, which welcomes the swallow ; the blue 

 hyacinths, which make the wood-glade glorious 

 " the heavens upbreaking through the earth " ; 

 the laburnum, with its " dropping wells of fire " ; 

 the periwinkle and the ground-ivy, and the golden 

 daffodils, whose dance " outdoes the sparkling waves 

 in glee " yet the broad fact is, that as the days grow 

 warmer the colours grow brighter. Although we 

 cannot without some saving clause accept the 

 suggestion that the annual succession of floral 

 colour corresponds to the colour scheme of the rain- 

 bow, yet it is true on the whole that red and purple, 

 blue and violet flowers, in short, those of richer 

 colour, become more numerous as the days lengthen. 

 Summer is the time of greatest industry, and 

 greatest of all is the unconscious work of the sunlit 

 leaves. The results of this are seen in the filling 

 of tubers and rhizomes, corms and bulbs, and other 

 storehouses ; in the formation of next year's buds ; 

 in the making of seeds and the swelling of fruits ; 

 and again, indirectly, in the increased store of energy 

 which is thus brought by plants within reach of 

 animal life. The sunshine floods the meadow and 

 sets the particles inside the green leaves a-dancing ; 

 the result of this is the making of sugars and still 



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