The Violet 



we have the Scented Cane,^ the Yellow 

 Water-lily, and Bog Myrtle, besides 

 other offshoots from the drier orders, as 

 Meadow-sweet and the aquatic species of 

 Mint. But when we do find fragrance 

 in the colder and more watery-looking 

 plants, the effect is more delicious from 

 the contrast. It hangs like a warm atmos- 

 phere about them, and seems like a super- 

 added life. Take, for instance, the Scented 

 Water-lily of foreign lands ; or the Hya- 

 cinths and Narcissuses, which have all a 

 watery cast about them. One word more, 

 and then we quit this subject. Observe 

 how the footstalk of the Scented Violet 

 sweeps over in an arch, and grasps the 

 flower at the top by means of the broad, 

 flat lobes of the calyx, which sit astride 

 like a saddle. But we cannot see the 

 junction of the calyx with its stalk. That 

 is covered by an upward prolongation of 

 each separate lobe or sepal ; and the con- 

 sequence is, that each sepal has the look 

 of a loose piece pasted on, the outer one 

 slightly overlapping that immediately above 

 it. Now, the more usual way is for the 

 calyx to appear but a swollen continuation 

 of the flower-stalk, so that the joining 



' [Acorus calamus, more commonly called the Sweet 

 Rush.— H. N. E.] 



43 



