WILD HYACINTHS. 23 



were three calyx pieces, three petals, three outer stamens, 

 three inner stamens, and three seed-vessels. How, then, 

 are we to account for these divergences in the modern 

 wild hyacinth? 



Why, if one looks closely it does not require much 

 imagination to see the threefold arrangement still in full 

 force, very little masked by small modifications. A 

 pocket-knife will often clear up a great many of these 

 difficulties ; and if the unripe seed-vessel of the wild 

 hyacinth be cut in two, the section at once shows that 

 it consists of three cells, united at their edges, and each 

 full of seeds. As Mrs. Malaprop would say, it is really 

 three distinct seed-vessels rolled into one. Such union 

 of the carpels (as they are called technically) is always a 

 common concomitant of high development, and goes 

 together with improved means of fertilisation. In simpler 

 allied forms, such as the water-plantain, the three carpels 

 remain always distinct ; but in the more advanced lily 

 family, to which the wild hyacinth belongs, they have 

 universally coalesced into a single three-celled capsule. 

 In autumn, however, when the capsule is ripe, it splits 

 into three parts to shed the little shiny black seeds, and 

 then clearly manifests its original character. 



Outside this triple fruit we get six stamens ; but if 

 you look close you can see that they are in two alternate 

 rows of three each, one set being a good deal longer than 

 the other. The stamens have grown almost into one 

 piece with the blue petals ; yet the inner set have 

 coalesced less thoroughly than the outer, for you can 

 pull the three shorter ones off, but not the three longer 

 ones. Their coalescence is another device to ensure 



