224 WOOD AND GARDEN 



Gentian-blue is a useful word, bringing to mind the 

 piercingly powerful hue of the Gentianella. So also 

 is turquoise-blue, for the stone has little variety of 

 shade, and the colour is always of the same type. 

 Forget-me-not blue is also a good word, meaning the 

 colour of the native water Forget-me-not. Sky-blue 

 is a little vaguC) though it has come by the " crystallis- 

 ing" force of usage to stand for a blue rather pale 

 than full, and not far from that of the Forget-me- 

 not; indeed, I seem to remember written passages in 

 which the colours of flower and firmament were used 

 reciprocally, the one in describing the other. Cobalt 

 is a word sometimes used, but more often misused, for 

 only water-colour painters know just what it represents, 

 and it is of little use, as it so rarely occurs among 

 flowers. 



Crimson is a word to beware of; it covers such a 

 wide extent of ground, and is used so carelessly in 

 plant-catalogues, that one cannot know whether it 

 stands for a rich blood colour or for a malignant 

 magenta. For the latter class of colour the term 

 amaranth, so generally used in French plant-lists, is 

 extremely useful, both as a definition and a warning. 

 Salmon is an excellent colour-word, copper is also 

 useful, the two covering a Hmited range of beautiful 

 colouring of the utmost value. Blood-red is also 

 accurately descriptive. Terra-cotta is useful but in- 

 definite, as it may mean anything between brick-red 

 and bufi". Red-lead, if it would be accepted as a 



