l8o MY STUDIO NEIGHBORS 



matic flowers being entirely distinct, as in cucum- 

 bers and Indian-corn; perhaps. on different plants, 

 as in the palms and willows; again by the pollen 

 maturing and disseminating before the stigma is 

 mature, as already mentioned, and vice versa. 



From these, the simplest forms, we pass on to 

 more and more complicated conditions, anomalies 

 of form and structure — devices, mechanisms, that 

 are past belief did we not observe them in actual- 

 ity with our own eyes, as well as the absolutely 

 convincing demonstration of the intention em- 

 bodied : exploding flowers, shooting flowers, flow- 

 er-traps, stamen embraces, pollen showers, pollen 

 plasters, pollen necklaces, and floral pyrotechnics 

 — all demonstrations in the floral etiquette of wel- 

 come and au revoir to insects. 



From the simplest and regular types of flowers, 

 as in the buttercup, we pass on to more and more 

 involved and unsymmetrical forms, as the colum- 

 bine, monk's-hood, larkspur, aristolochia, and thus 

 finally to the most highly specialized or involved 

 forms of all, as seen in the orchid — the multifari- 

 ous, multiversant orchid ; the beautiful orchid ; the 

 ugly orchid; the fragrant orchid; the fetid orchid; 

 the graceful, homely, grotesque, uncanny, mimetic, 

 and, until the year 1859, the absolutely non-com- 

 mittal and inexplicable flower; the blossom which 



