40 COLIN CLOUT'S CALENDAR. 



one cannot help observing at once that they are all with- 

 out exception bulbous plants. Their large showy heads 

 of bloom require far more expenditure of raw material 

 than the tiny green flowers of the mercury, the thin 

 pellucid rays of the primrose, or even the bright golden 

 corolla of the lesser celandine. Moreover, if you look 

 closely at most of these bulbous blossoms, you will see 

 that they have very thick and fleshy petals, quite 

 different from the light papery petals of the wood 

 anemone or the \ iolet. This fleshiness is very well ex- 

 emplified in the hyacinth, the tulip, and the tiger-lily — 

 all of them thick and stout blossoms, which flaunt their 

 colours boldly in the sunlight, and are little afraid of 

 either wind or rain. Throughout the whole of nature, I 

 believe, you will never find a brilliant mass of heavy 

 bloom on a strictly annual plant ; and all the more 

 massive forms are provided for beforehand by means of 

 bulbs, corms, or tubers. Such are the water-lilies, lotus, 

 dahlias, orchids, iris, gladiolus, tuberose, arum, amaryllis, 

 fritillary, saffron, tulip, and almost all lilies. On the 

 other hand, whenever you find a single comparatively 

 inconspicuous plant among these families — as, for 

 example, Sv^iomon's seal, with its small drooping green- 

 ish-white blossoms — one is sure to find also that it is a 

 bulbless annual. 



Nearly all the other very conspicuous flowers are 

 shrubby or arboreal in habit, and so get their working 

 capital from the store laid up in the stem by last year's 

 leaves : as in the case of the cherry, apple, hawthorn, 

 pyrus japonica, lilac, rose, laburnum, and all the great 

 tropical flowering trees. None of these ever flower until 

 after many years of foliage ; and if the flower-buds are 



