28 COLIK CLOUT'S CALENDAR. 



of the carpels (as they are called technically) is always a 

 common concomitant of high development, and goes to- 

 gether with improved means of fertilization. In simpler 

 allied forms, such as the water-plantain, the three carpels 

 remain always distinct ; but in the more advanced lily 

 family, to which the wild hyacinth belongs, they have 

 universally coalesced into a single three-celled capsule. 

 In autumn, however, when the capsule is ripe, it splits 

 into three parts to shed the little shiny black seeds, and 

 then clearly manifests its original character. 



Outside this triple fruit we get six stamens ; but if 

 you look close you can see that they are in two alternate 

 rows of three each, one set being a good deal longer than 

 the other. The stamens have grown almost into one 

 piece with the blue pteals ; yet the inner set have coa- 

 lesced less thoroughly than the outer, for you can pull 

 the three shorter ones off, but not the three longer ones. 

 Their coalescence is another device to insure more per- 

 fect fertilization, and to make the pollen adhere more 

 certainly to the visiting bees than in other flowers. Out- 

 side all we get the six blue petals, three of which are 

 really calyx pieces, indistinguishable in color and shape 

 from the true petals, but recognizable as to their real 

 nature by two signs first, that they slightly overlap the 

 others, and secondly that they have the long stamens of 

 the outer row opposite to them and combined with 

 them. In all the lilies the calyx pieces and petals are 

 very much alike and similarly colored ; but in the wild 

 hyacinth the similarity is even closer than elsewhere. 

 This is doubtless due to the shape of the flower, which, 

 in order to accommodate its favorite bees, closely simu- 

 lates a true tubular blossom, like the Canterbury bell. 

 At first sight, indeed, one might almost take it for such 

 a perfect tube ; but when you pull it to pieces, you see 



