THE LIVING GARMENT 55 



blue, and finally your little milkwort is seen to be 

 purest white. Continuing your walk again, you will 

 soon be in some place where the tiny bird-blossom 

 will have a rosy blush, and to the blushing flowers 

 will succeed pink, then red, then purple, and then 

 blue again. It is interesting to note that the different 

 colours are not often seen together, or in one place. 

 Blue, white, pink, and purple flowers are all at some 

 distance apart, although all may be found on one 

 hill, with flowers of intermediate shades between. 

 Thus we see that in this species the colour is not 

 fixed and the mark of a distinct variety, as in the 

 pimpernel and other species which produce flowers 

 of different colours. The colour of the milkwort 

 probably depends on the character of the soil, or 

 some other local condition. Has any one ever tried 

 the experiment of growing the plant in beds from 

 seeds produced by flowers of different colours? 

 Observant old Gerarde described them all separ- 

 ately, and made their number six. " The fourth 

 kind," he says, " is like the last in every respect, 

 but that it hath white floures, otherwise it is very 

 like." Then he says : " The purple milkwort 

 differeth from the others in the colour of its floures, 

 wherein especially consisteth the difference." And 

 finally, his sixth milkwort " is like unto the rest in 

 each respect, saving that the floures are of an over- 

 worn ill-favoured colour, which maketh it to differ 

 from the others of its kind." 



