54 



Blue Love is also often called Love Creeper, which is a 

 more appropriate name, because the flowers are not always 

 blue; they are sometimes white, and rarely pink. Young 

 botanists should again remember that colour of flowers 

 does not mark a difference of species. Though certain 

 flowers are more or less restricted in this, for instance, no 

 blue Kose or yellow Aster has yet been developed, yet pro- 

 bably all plants may produce white flowers. If a blue Rose 

 or a yellow Aster were evolved, it would not be a new 

 species, but only a garden variety. 



Though the flower of Love is so very different from 

 Purple Heath, the structure of the pistil, fruit, and seed 

 are so similar that they are considered to be very closely 

 related. Love is a small creeper with few small leaves. 

 By means of a twining habit it climbs up the undergrowth 

 for 2 or 3 feet, and bears abundance of pretty little flowers, 

 extensively dispersed, on its branches. Its habits is very 

 much that of a parasite, but it is not one ; it only clings 

 to other shrubs for support. The flower is very irregular 

 and difficult for the beginner to understand. At first sight 

 it may be taken for a peaflower, but this is only a first 

 impression, for it really is not at all like one ; yet this has 

 been seized on by examiners to catch an unwary student. 



There is not here the clear distinction of calyx and 

 corolla we have hitherto met with. The calyx consists of 

 five free sepals three outer small ones, then two that are 

 relatively large and spreading. They are coloured and lock 

 like petals, which they are commonly taken for. Th^re 

 are only three petals, the outer one of which is below, and 

 is larger than the others : it is folded into a boat-shuixs 

 and resembles the keel of a peaflower. The two other 

 petals are small, placed at the side, and partly united to 

 the stamens. The stamens are eight in number; their 

 filaments are united below in a sheath that surrounds the 

 pistil. The anthers are very small. This pistil consists of 

 two carpels that are blended together ; the lower or 

 ovarian part has two chambers, in each of which is 

 developed a solitary pendulous ovule. The style is short 

 and curved, with a relatively large two-lobed stigma. 



In growing into the fruit the pistil does not much 

 change, except that it becomes larger and tapers below 

 into a stalk. When mature it becomes dry, and splits along 

 each edge to allow the two seeds to escape. The seeds are 

 hairy, often copiously so. This is very marked in Love 

 Creeper and its immediate relatives, and the genus from 

 this has been named Comesperma. which means hairy seed. 



