39 



Native violets, both wliite and yellow, show vestiges of 

 the earlier violet color, and the wild, violet colored violets 

 have no yellow at all I Similarly to Pansy, many varieties 

 of yellow Iris, Wallflower, etc., may be traced to an older 

 pur})le or blue, the intermediate colors being reddish-brown 

 or terra-cotta. 



Antirrhinum majus, Snapdragon ; the colors of its differ- 

 ent varieties can l)e traced from purple, through crimson, 

 brown, cardinal, terra-cotta, yellow-ln-own to i)ui-e yellow. 



Onicus horridiilus, the common yellow thistle, varies from 

 cream color to pale yellow, while the anthers are a lively 

 red-purple, and in striking contrast with the other parts of 

 the flower. The corollas extend below into a long, thread- 

 like tube of a weak, pearly white color, in fact the funda- 

 mentil white tis'sue which in the ultimate analysis is the 

 basis of all color, as not only yellow, but red, purple, and 

 blue in similar circumstances gradually fade away into this 

 primitive tissue-white. It is more than probable that this 

 pale yellow was not the original color, but that the latter 

 was more like the anthers and the tips of the bracts, which 

 last in bud are of a pronounced red-purple. The corolla, 

 once purple, faded to white, from which fundamental color 

 the yellow is now forming. Another indication that this 

 yellow is not the i)rimary color is found in the fact that it 

 does occasional 1}' occur of a [)urple color. The writer has 

 found a single plant bearing rich, glowing purple flowers in 

 a field where every other })lant bore the ordinary yellow 

 ])lossoms ! 



Boletus suhtomentosus, a mushroom, its flesh yellow, 

 changes innnediately to blue on fracture ! 



Ixias are of a great variety of color in cultivation, but all 

 have a dark centre or eye varying in hue from dark pur[)le 

 to bright crimson, according as they are affected by the 

 general color of the [)etals. This i)ui'i)le eye indicates that 

 the original color of the flower was either purple or some 

 combination of red and blue ; yet there are yellow varieties 



