Flowers and Gardens 



chiefly consists in its being a true reading 

 of nature. 



Let us look, for instance, at just one of 

 these unimportant accidents of structure, 

 as some utilitarians would consider them, 

 though perhaps as necessary to the well- 

 being of the plant as they unquestionably 

 are to its loveliness. See how the whole 

 make of the flower contributes to its drop- 

 like character, 1 the most essential feature 

 in the expression. Now, if one simple 

 change were made, this character would be 

 wholly lost. There are plenty of drooping 

 flowers amongst the Liliaceae. Suppose 

 that the Snowdrop had been a Liliaceous 

 instead of an Amaryllidaceous plant. The 

 two orders so nearly resemble each other 

 that no visible change would be needed 

 except this one that the green drop-like 

 ovary would be contained within the 

 corolla, instead of being outside it. And 

 thus the form of the double drop would be 

 lost, for the corolla would spring directly 

 from the flower-stalk. We may also notice, 

 when the flower is closed and the fitness 

 of its name most manifestly seen, how the 

 white corolla, so narrow where it leaves 



1 [The drop in Snowdrop is not a drop of water (gutta), 

 but is the old name for a pendent jewel, especially an ear- 

 ring H. N. E.] 



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