WHITE 



ies where dark-eyed little Italians peddle clusters of the long- 

 stemmed fragrant flowers about the streets. 



In the water-lily may be seen an example of so-called plant- 

 metamorphosis. The petals appear to pass gradually into sta- 

 mens, it being difficult to decide where the petals end and the 

 stamens begin. But whether stamens are transformed petals, or 

 petals transformed stamens seems to be a mooted question. In 

 Gray we read, " Petals numerous, in many rows, the innermost 

 gradually passing into stamens," while Mr. Grant Allen writes : 

 "Petals are in all probability enlarged and flattened stamens, 

 which have been set apart for the work of attracting insects," 

 and goes on to say, " Flowers can and do exist without petals, 

 . . . but no flower can possibly exist without stamens, which 

 are one of the two essential reproductive organs in the plant." 

 From this he argues that it is more rational to consider a petal a 

 transformed stamen than vice versa. To go further into the sub- 

 ject here would be impossible, but a careful study of the water- 

 lily is likely to excite one's curiosity in the matter. 



WHITE VERVAIN. 



Verbena ^lrt^C(zfolia. Verbena Family. 



Three to five feet high. Leaves. Oval, coarsely toothed. Flowers. 

 Small, white, in slender spikes, otherwise resembling Purple Vervain. 



It almost excites one's incredulity to be told that this unin- 

 teresting looking plant, which grows rankly along the highways, 

 is an importation from the tropics, yet for this statement the 

 botany is responsible. 



ROUND-LEAVED SUNDEW. 



Drosera rotundifolid. Sundew Family. 



Scape. A few inches high. Leaves. Rounded, abruptly narrowed into 

 spreading, hairy leaf-stalks ; beset with reddish, gland-bearing bristles. 

 Flowers. White, growing in a one-sided raceme, which so nods at its apex 

 that the fresh-blown blossom is always uppermost. Calyx. Of five sepals. 



90 



