INTELLIGENCE OF FLOWERS 



fumes, mingling with those of its habitual neighbour, the 

 Honeysuckle, spread under the fury of a fierce sun delights 

 that are not to be described save by evoking celestial dewis, 

 Elysian springs, cool streams and starry transparencies in the 

 hollow of azure grottoes. . . . 



The flower of this Broom, like that of all the papilionace- 

 ous Leguminoscs, resemble the flowers of the Peas of our 

 gardens ; and its lower petals, welded like the beak of a galley, 

 hermetically contain the stamens and the pistil. So long as 

 it is not ripe, the bee who explores it finds it impenetrable. 

 But, as soon as the moment of puberty arrives for the captive 

 bride and grooms, the beak bends under the weight of the 

 insect that rests upon it; and the golden chamber bursts 

 voluptuously, hurling with violence and afar, over the visitor, 

 over the flowers around, a cloud of luminous dust, which, by 

 way of additional precaution, a broad, eaved petal dashes upon 

 the stigma to be impregnated. 



15 

 Let us leave the seeds and return to the flowers. As I 

 have said one could prolong indefinitely the list of their in- 

 genious inventions. I refer those who might wish to study 



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