130 PROSERPINA. 



stamens above, the petals nothing, the stalks all tiny trees, 

 always dividing their branches mainly into three one in 

 the centre short, and the two lateral, long, with an inter- 

 mediate extremely long one, if needed, to fill a gap, so 

 contriving that the flowers shall all be nearly at the same 

 level, or at least surface of ball, like a guelder rose. But 

 the cunning with which the tree conceals its structure till 

 the blossom is fallen, and then for a little while, we had 

 best look no more at it, for it is all like grape-stalks with 

 no grapes. 



These, whether carrying hawthorn blossom and haw, 

 or grape blossom and grape, or peach blossom and peach, 

 you will simply call the c stalk,' whether of flower or fruit. 

 A ' stalk 5 is essentially round, like a pillar; and has, for 

 the most part, the power of first developing, and then 

 shaking off, flower and fruit from its extremities. You 

 can pull the peach from its stalk, the cherry, the 

 grape. Always at some time of its existence, the flower- 

 stalk lets fall something of what it sustained^ petal or 

 seed. 



In late Latin it is called ' petiolus, 3 the little foot ; be- 

 cause the expanding piece that holds the grape, or olive, 

 is a little like an animal's foot. Modern botanists have 

 misapplied the word to the ^/-stalk, which has no re- 

 semblance to a foot at all. We must keep the word to its 

 proper meaning, and, when we want to write Latin, call it 

 ' petiolus ; ' when we want to write English, call it ' stalk,' 

 meaning always fruit or flower stalk. 



