IV. THE FLOWER. 85 



between the developing angle and limiting curve 

 being varied according to the depth of cup, and the 

 degree of connection between the petals. Thus a 

 rose folds them over one another, in the bud ; a 

 convolvulus twists them, — the one expanding into 

 a flat cinquefoil of separate petals, and the other 

 into a deep-welled cinquefoil of connected ones. 



I find an excellent illustration in Veronica Polita, 

 one of the most perfectly graceful of field plants 

 because of the light alternate flower stalks, each 

 with its leaf at the base ; the flower itself a quatre- 

 foil, of which the largest and least petals are upper- 

 most. Pull one off its calyx (draw, if you can, 

 the outline of the striped blue upper petal with the 

 jagged edge of pale gold below), and then examine 

 the relative shapes of the lateral, and least upper 

 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 expansion 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 crumpling arises from a fine floral cha- 



