BINDWEED. 205 



tion. Its shape is as graceful as that of 

 any Greek or Etruscan vase, as swelling and 

 as simply beautiful as any beaker. Can I 

 account for these peculiarities on mere natural 

 grounds as well as for the others ? I some- 

 how fancy I can. 



The bindweed is descended from some 

 earlier ancestors which had five separate 

 petals, instead of a single fused and circular 

 cup. But in the convolvulus family, as in 

 many others, these five petals have joined 

 into a continuous rim or bowl, and the marks 

 on the blossom where it was folded in the 

 bud still answer to the five petals. In many 

 plants you can see the pointed edges of the 

 former distinct flower-rays as five projections, 

 though their lower parts have coalesced into 

 a bell-shaped or tubular blossom, as in the 

 common harebell. How this comes to pass 

 we can easily understand if we watch an un- 

 opened fuchsia ; for there the four bright- 

 coloured sepals remain joined together till 

 the bud is ready to open, and then split 



