FROM BLUE TO PURPLE FLOWERS 



" If blue is the fuvoKritc colaur of bees, and if bees have so much to 

 do with the origin of flo'cvers, how is it that there are so few blue ones ? 

 I believe the explanation to be that all blue flowers have descended from 

 ancestors in whieli the flotoers were green ; or, to speak more precisely, in 

 7vhich the leaves surrounding the stamens and pistil were green ; and 

 that thev have passed through stages of ivhite or yellow, and generally red, 

 before becoming blue." — SirJohn LubBOCK in "Ants, Bees, and JVasps." 



