The Life of the Weevil 



she has two establishments: the corymbed 

 carlina in the plain and the acanthus-leaved 

 carlina on the slopes of Mont Ventoux. 1 



To those who stop at the general aspect 

 and do not have recourse to delicate floral 

 analyses, the two plants have nothing in 

 common. The countryman, clever though 

 he be at distinguishing one plant from 

 another, would never think of calling the two 

 by the same generic name. As for the civil- 

 ized townsman, unless he be a botanist, 

 don't speak of him : his testimony here would 

 be worse than useless. 



The corymbed carlina has a tall, slender 

 stem; thin, sparse leaves; a bunch of average 

 flowers, with a receptacle less than half the 

 size of an acorn. The acanthus-leaved car- 

 lina spreads, level with the soil, a large, 

 fierce rosette of broad leaves which in shape 

 is not unlike the ornament of a Corinthian 

 capital. There is no stem. In the centre 

 of the leaf-cluster is a flower, one only, but a 

 giant, big as a man's fist. 



The people of Mont Ventoux call this 

 magnificent thistle the "mountain artichoke." 



1 The nearest mountain to the author's village. Cf. 

 The Hunting Wasps: chap. xi. Translator's Note. 

 82 



