Flowers and Gardens 



work for the bright, lively yellow of the 

 blossoms. Now what sort of spathe would 

 be likely to contribute best to this re- 

 markable effect of the flower ? Should the 

 colours be unusually striking, or the size 

 increased, or what ? Strange to say, in 

 both Daffodil and Pheasant's Eye we find 

 the spathe dry and withered, shrivelled 

 up like a bit of thin brown paper, and 

 clinging round the base of the flower. We 

 cannot overlook it, and most assuredly 

 we were never meant to do so. Nothing 

 could have been more beautifully ordered 

 than this contrast, there being just suffi- 

 cient suggestion of the dead, the artificial, 

 to make us appreciate more fully that 

 abounding freshness and life. And we 

 are not impressed as by any ordinary 

 form of decay. Imagine the spathe un- 

 withered, as we elsewhere often find it, 

 and see what we should lose. 1 Now 

 withering is generally meant to remind 

 us of the perishableness and transitory 

 nature of things ; but we do occasionally 

 see it, as in the present instance, em- 

 ployed in one of its least attractive 

 aspects to intensify the feeling of fresh- 

 ness by the contrast. For other illustra- 



1 A withered spathe is by no means peculiar to these 

 plants, but its object in them is remarkably clear. 

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