THE WILD GARDEN. ! 77 



and will continue so to do if my friends the vandals will only 

 be content to 



"love the flower, 

 And leave it on its stalk " : 



for at best, and to be consistent, I cannot feel that Nature will 

 long countenance its existence, and fain would I see it die a nat- 

 ural death. There is a long list of similar exceptions to tempt 

 the curious scientific eye to be found in our walks. The purple 

 meadow-rue of my friend is by no means as rare a find as he 

 imagines. He has simply happened to miss it. Almost any fa- 

 vorite habitat of the plant will disclose its purple specimen. Pink 

 yarrow and pink wild -carrot are also frequently to be met with, 

 in the latter case that customary purple-black floret in the centre 

 of the white bloom seeming to have dissolved like pigment and 

 spread throughout the saucer. 



I once found a blueflag plant upon which nearly all the flow- 

 ers were four- parted instead of three, as in the true type ; and 

 singularly enough, on examination, I found that the only pod 

 which had approached maturity was empty, its seeds having been 

 devoured by a caterpillar. "Mere chance?" say you. Well, we 

 cannot decide that point. No derision shall change my faith 

 that this caterpillar had a special mission to fulfil. 



One of the rarest of all these freaks came to my notice for 

 the first time this summer in a singular specimen of the Indian- 

 pipe, and one which it would seem has thus far escaped the bot- 

 anist. It was not the " pale pipe " which we all know, but from 

 root to summit was of a deep crimson color, the petals being 

 tipped with bright yellow. Its botanical characters referred it to 

 the ordinary species (Monotropa imiflora}, the more notable dis- 

 tinction besides the color being a fine close down, which was in 

 decided contrast to the glossy smoothness of the ordinary form. 



It was doubtless a mere "variety" and not a new species, 



and suggests the speculation as to which of the two forms is the 



true type: whether this ruddy individual may not be a sturdy, 



faithful remnant of the ancestral stock, and the pale uncanny 



23 



