390 THE MAGAZINE OF HORTICULTURE. 



There are certain trees that bear solitary flowers widely 

 separated from one another. These are either very gaudy 

 like those of the tulip trees or very sweet like those of the 

 magnolia. Nature has likewise adapted the colors of flowers 

 to their situations. Thus we find the flowers that grow in 

 the shade of woods are mostly white, while those that stand 

 out in the open field often have dark hues, which would be 

 indistinguishable under the shade of the forest. The flowers 

 of most of the fruit trees are white, mixed with shades of 

 crimson ; but as white forms a more conspicuous contrast 

 with green than with the naked branches of the trees, those 

 trees and shrubs that produce their flowers before the leaves 

 are usually pink or crimson. Such are those of the peach 

 and the almond, while the white blossoms of the pear and 

 the cherry do not appear until the foliage is out, and open at 

 the same time with it. The blossoms of the apple tree, which 

 appear simultaneously with the development of their leaves, 

 are crimson before they are opened, when the leaves are yet 

 unexpanded, but grow white when the flowers are fully 

 opened on the groundwork of the fully developed foliage. 

 The Canadian rhodora and the procumbent azalea, which are 

 crimson, bear the flowers before the leaves, while the white 

 azalea appears only after the full maturity of its foliage. 



Most of the water lilies are white : but white, if it were 

 planted upon the pure glassy surface of the water, would not 

 be very discernible, as the water which in one position is blue, 

 in another is white. But the white water lilies are always 

 expanded on a smooth green expanse formed by their broad 

 flat foliage, so that the white flowers are contrasted by the 

 verdure of this surface of leaves, and not by the white or 

 blue surface of the water. The Saracenia, on the contrary, 

 that suspends its nodding flowers over the shallow waters of 

 the lake shore, reflecting sometimes the blue of the sky, and 

 sometimes the whiteness of the clouds, is made conspicuous 

 by the sobriety of its colors. Its dark chocolate and purple 

 hues render it discernible at a great distance, rising out of the 

 shallow and reedy waters. 



There are other colors of vegetation, besides those of the 



