84 LUTHER BURBANK 



So the question of the heating effect of the 

 Sim must have a share in determining the color 

 of the floral envelope. 



A flower that blooms in the open and is ex- 

 posed to the blazing rays of the sun may advan- 

 tageously develop a glossy surface, just as a 

 leaf does, in order to reflect the largest possible 

 amount of light ; and may in addition take on to 

 advantage such transformation of its tissues as 

 will make them reflect the long heat-bearing 

 waves of the spectrum. 



Such a flower, interpreted in ordinary lan- 

 guage, is red in color — for of course that is the 

 untechnical way of stating the facts that a given 

 object reflects the long rays of light, and ab- 

 sorbs the others. 



Contrariwise, it would be almost fatal for a 

 blossom of ordinary texture to develop such con- 

 sistency as to absorb the main bulk of the light 

 waves, inasmuch as such a blossom would soon 

 be heated to a dangerous temperature. That, 

 doubtless, is why flowers that are even approxi- 

 mately black are the rarest of all blossoms. 



On the other hand, a flower that reflects all 

 the rays of light, and hence that appears white 

 in color, is given protection against the heating 

 influence of the sun even though it grows in the 

 open. When we add that white is a conspicuous 



