Flowers and Gardens 



stalk on which the flowers are mounted 

 is not round, as we saw it in the Snow- 

 drop, for roundness would be unimpressive 

 with such length. Broadly two-edged, we 

 might almost say triangular, it contracts 

 below the spathe into a slender wrist-like 

 joint. But still it needs emphasis to 

 make it sufficiently effective. And con- 

 sequently the stem as it ascends is twisted, 

 to prevent the flat side from falling too 

 dead upon the eye. So the edges, ridged 

 with their slight shallow teeth, cut upon 

 us most keenly and decidedly, and the flat- 

 ness rises up to terminate in the blunt 

 flat-sided spathe, which swells out again 

 above the joint, almost as might a human 

 limb. Find a Snowflake stem which has 

 not this twist and note the difference. 

 Lastly, this twisting of the stem gives it 

 the tapering look that makes its great 

 length seem so well proportioned. View 

 the stem in certain aspects, more especi- 

 ally, I think, from behind, and this will 

 be seen most beautifully. Then take the 

 stem and go round it, and you will find 

 that the tapering is less than it had seemed, 

 because the effect was partly produced by 

 the twist, as we have already said. 



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