28 



In regard to Alismaceo' we quote as follows : 



"The common arrowhead is one of the earliest and sim- 

 l)lest threefold flowers of separate sexes, with a white 

 corolla of somewhat papery petals. The water })lantain, 

 another form of early threefold blossom, ])oth sexes com- 

 hincd, has delicate pinky-white })etals and a numl)er of 

 small one-seeded carpels exactly as in the buttercup, which 

 occupies in part the corresponding place among the tive-fold 

 flowers. Save that the petals are now pinky-white, while 

 those of the original ancestors were almost certain] // yellow, 

 we might almost say that the marsh-weed in question was 

 really the earliest petal-bearing plant of which we are in 

 search . " 



AVhen Grant Allen writes on the histoiy of certain 

 plants and does not treat specially of their color features, 

 his observations are at variance with his favorite theory, as 

 seen in the colors of Alisma and Sagittaria. liy his theory, 

 as the Alisma is one of the earliest and simplest flowers, it 

 ought to be yellow, l)ut it is really white or even pink, 

 without the slightest trace of yellow. This discrepancy is 

 noticed by its author and is remedied by hypothesis : by 

 guessing that sometime in the long past, it might l)e 80,000 

 years or so, the flower "almost certainly was yellow" I 



It is indeed very unfortunate that not a single ex;miple 

 of any existing flower could be found in all the great endo- 

 geneous class of [)lants to illustrate the theory ! 



If all petals and stamens were first yellow, why not the 

 pistils and the base of the pistils, which later becomes the 

 frnit, as this is but a part of the flower which continues to 

 develop after certain other parts wither and decay. 



i)oul)tless this idea would strike every one as absurd, but 

 it is quite as reasonable as that every flower was originally 

 yellow. 



The develoi)ment of color in fruits from the green state 

 to maturity is a very interesting study, and the methods arc 

 as diverse as one can conceive. 



