HARMONIES OF VEGETATION. 267 



sus, the wild anemone, which blossom early in the spring. Under this 

 colour must likewise be classed those that have faint tints of rose 

 or azure, as various species of hyacinths, and also such as have 

 yellow and brilliant hues, as the flowers of the dandelion, the butter- 

 flower and the wall-flower. But such as blow in warm seasons and 

 situations, like the poppy, the corn-flower, which grow in summer 

 among the corn, have dark colours, as purple, deep-red and blue, 

 which absorb heat without much reflecting it. 



9. In addition to the effect produced by the colour 

 of the corolla, the forms of flowers appear equally cal- 

 culated to reflect heat. 



Thus in some flowers, as in the colewort, the corolla is cruciform ; 

 in the daisy there is an entire circle ; portions of a sphere in the 

 rose ; perfect spheres, in the bells of the lily of the valley ; and 

 truncated cones in the fox-glove and others. These are some of the 

 numerous kinds of corolla, all of which certainly appear peculiarly 

 adapted to fulfil the intention we have mentioned. 



10. Heat being so essential to the fecundity of the 

 flower, besides colour and form, nature has other means 

 of multiplying the reflections of heat. 



Sometimes she places the flowers on stems of little elevation, that 

 they may receive warmth from the reflections of the earth ; some- 

 times she glazes them with a brilliant varnish, as in the yellow 

 ranunculus or common butter-cup of our meadows. Sometime) she 

 witholds the corolla, and causes the parts of fecundation to issue 

 from the sides of an ear, from a cone, or from the branch of a tree. 



11. There are also several other illustrations which 

 might be mentioned, to display the adaption of the 

 corolla to regulate the heat commuicated by the sun. 



What confirms the idea that the flowers of plants are adapted to 

 the action of heat, is this, that many of our European plants, though 



