INDIAN FLOWERS. 513 



ami she does not wear them. She considers that her privilege is gone for ever, 

 however much she may regret it. Thus, you will see how through the varied walks 

 of life and in the daily duties and pleasures of a Hindu home, flowers come in for 

 their share of attention and usefulness. 



Let us now turn to the consideration of the structural peculiarities of the flowers 

 we commonly see in our fields and forests, gardens and green alleys. The size, 

 the form, the colour and the perfume of flowers at once mark them out, morpholo- 

 gically speaking, as some of the most striking products o! the vegetahle world. 

 To consider the interesting subject of the development of a flower — in the Y\<A\t 

 of its being a mere raodificf.tion of the leaf, would be foreign to the scope of my 

 discourse this evening, but it may be stated briefly that the subject is one of vast 

 usefulness to a practical gardener in appreciating the formation of what are called 

 double-flowers where often we see nothing but petals where the stamens and even 

 the pistil are transformed into petals, as, for instance, in the Bat mogra (double 

 variety of Jasmiiium Samhac), the Tagar {TabemcEmontima Coronaria), or the 

 Dalimba Gonda (the tufted male flower of Punica Granatum). 



Of the flowers noted for their large size and conspicuous form, we have beautiful 

 illustrations in our D«7?e?zi!« speciosa (Motlia Karmal) and Nelumbmm speciosum 

 (Karaal or Padma). Belonging to the class of water-plants producing bold 

 flowers we have also the white and crimson lotuses known as the Nymphcca 

 Alba (Swetotpal), and Nymphaa Rubra (Raktotpal), and the pale blue Nympha-a 

 Cyanea (Nilotpal) which is probably the Nilophar of Arabian and Persian writers. 

 Thespasia populnea (our common Bhend) with its rich yellow flowers tinged inside 

 with deep crimson and Thespasia Lampas (Ranbhendi) with its rich orange flowers, 

 are conspicuous in our forests and hedges. The former flowers throughout the 

 year. It knows no seasonal change. Our common Saori [Bombax Malabarica) is 

 in flower now and conspicuous in our forests. The rich crimson of its bold 

 succulent floners on leaflesss branches is striking in the extreme even to a distant 

 gazer on this our forest beauty. In a few days more the Boab tree {Adansonia 

 digitata), a naturalized exotic from the South African coast, will throw out its 

 equally striking bold scarlet or white flowers. The large purple racemes of 

 Mucuna pruriens (cowhage) ; the rich copious panicles of Cassia fistula (Bahawa); 

 the bright dazzling scarlet and white spikes of Erythrina Indica (Faringa or Pau- 

 gi'ira); and the dense orange fascicles of Buteafrondosa may be grouped togethei" 

 as our consummate forest beauties. Nor must we forget to include in this class 

 the more homely climber Clitorea ternatea (Gokarna) which adorns our hedges 

 and garden trellis-work with delicate blue and white flowers seated solitary or at 

 the most in pairs on their delicately formed parent, trailing over hundreds of 

 yards at a stretch. The well-known Ashoka of pristine and Puranic fame — ■ 

 Saracca Indica (otherwise known as Jonesia Asoka) bears a small flower, but its 

 gorgeous terminal corymbose panicles of rich orange turning into bright red, 

 peeping through the densely-set drooping leaves varying from the deep green of 

 its older foliage to the sparkling delicate purple of its tender tops — mark on this 



