INTELLIGENCE OF FLOWERS 



their knees. And now, in the heart of this palace of sapphires 

 and turquoises, in the gladness of the summer days, begins the 

 drama without words or catastrophe which one might expect, 

 the drama of powerless, useless, motionless waiting. But the 

 hours pass that are the flower's years: its brilliancy fades, its 

 petals fall and the pride of the great queens seems at last to 

 bend under the weight of life. At a given moment, as though 

 obeying the secret and irresistible command of love, which 

 deems the proof to have lasted long enough, with a concerted 

 and symmetrical movement, comparable with the harmonious 

 curves of a fountain with five jets, they all bend backwards to- 

 gether, stoop and gracefully cull the golden dust of the nuptial 

 kiss on the lips of their humble lovers. 



II 



The unexpected abounds here, as we see. A bulky vol- 

 ume might be written on the intelligence of the plants, even 

 as Romanes wrote one on animal intelligence. But this sketch 

 has no pretension to become a manual of that kind; and I wish 

 only to call attention to a few interesting events that happen 

 beside us in this world wherein we think ourselves, a little too 

 vaingloriously, privileged. These events are not selected, but 



[ 51 ] 



