146 FIELD, FOREST AND FARM 



ing and snuggle down inside to keep from getting 

 chilled. 



"The corolla or inner garment unites elegance of 

 form and richness of tint with fineness of texture. 

 It is the flower's finery and is what especially cap- 

 tivates our eye, so that we commonly consider it the 

 most important part of the blossom, whereas it is 

 really nothing but an ornament. 



"Of the two garments, the calyx is the more neces- 

 sary. Many flowers have no corolla, but they always 

 have at least a calyx, which in its simplest form is 

 reduced to a tiny leaflet shaped like a scale. 

 Flowers with no corolla remain unnoticed, and the 

 plants that bear them seem to us to have no blos- 

 soms. It is a mistake: all trees and plants bloom, 

 even the oak, willow, poplar, pine, beech, wheat, and 

 multitudes of others whose blossoming is unheeded 

 by the inattentive eye. Their flowers are extremely 

 numerous, but as they are very small and have no 

 bright-colored corolla they escape any but the closest 

 scrutiny. 



"It would be knowing a person very little only to 

 be able to say that he wears such and such a coat; 

 nor does one know a flower any better when one can 

 merely say that it is clothed with a calyx and a 

 corolla. What is there under this clothing? 



"Let us examine together a lily, which by its size 

 lends itself readily to study. It has no calyx, 1 but 



i This is inconsistent with what Uncle Paul stated two paragraphs 

 above. He should have said here that the lily has but one Aortal 

 envelope. — Translator. 



