76 PBOSERPINA. 



petal. Their under surface is very curious, as if covered 

 with white paint ; the blue stripes above, in the direction 

 of their growth, deepening the more delicate colour with 

 exquisite insistence. 



A lilac blossom will give you a pretty example of the ex- 

 pansion of the petals of a quatrefoil above the edge of the 

 cup or tube ; but I must get back to our poppy at present. 



15. What outline its petals really have, however, is little 

 shown in their crumpled fluttering ; but that very crum- 

 pling arises from a fine floral character which we do not 

 enough value in them. We usually think of the poppy as 

 a coarse flower ; but it is the most transparent and delicate 

 of all the blossoms of the field. The rest nearly all of 

 them depend on the texture of their surfaces for colour. 

 But the poppy is painted glass ; it never glows so brightly 

 as when the sun shines through it. Wherever it is seen 

 against the light or with the light always, it is a flame, 

 and warms the wind like a blown ruby. 



In these two qualities, the accurately balanced form, and 

 the perfectly infused colour of the petals, you have, as I 

 said, the central being of the flower. All the other parts 

 of it are necessary, but we must follow them out in order. 



16. Looking down into the cup, you see the green boss 

 divided by a black star, of six rays only, and surrounded 

 by a few black spots. My rough-nurtured poppy contents 

 itself with these for its centre ; a rich one would have had 

 the green boss divided by a dozen of rays, and surrounded 

 by a dark crowd of crested threads. 



