Flowers and Gardens 



point is clear enough, as in the Pingui- 

 cula, which we have already mentioned. 

 And we should have expected that the 

 contrary arrangement would be highly 

 unpleasing, as giving a sense of insecurity. 

 But it is not so at all. Nature delights 

 in astonishing us, and every now and then 

 will start out of the beaten path to gain 

 her end by some altogether unexpected 

 means, always making it worth while by 

 gaining some unlooked-for beauty. This, 

 at least, is the surface aspect of the ques- 

 tion ; more truly the one plan is in its 

 place as necessary, and as much a matter 

 of course as the other. This calyx struc- 

 ture is best seen in the Scented Violet ; 

 in the Dog Violet the sepals are narrower 

 and more widely separated. 



44 



