The Snowflake 



Snowdrop, but the bend is less absolutely- 

 determined. There is a tendency to relax 

 into something of that arching curve, which 

 in the Snowdrop but evinces weakness. 

 Yet how beautiful do we find it here ; the 

 uppermost pedicel straight and more sud- 

 den in the bend, the lower ones starting 

 off of necessity at sharper angles, and 

 arching more and more perceptibly as we 

 descend to the lowermost. The spathe 

 has but little of the Snowdrop curve, but 

 the pedicels look stiff and weak if it is cut 

 away. And now we see the force of the 

 bell-shape of the corolla, for the petals of 

 the Snowdrop would be far too lengthy. 

 So that the corolla has been shortened, in 

 the first place, to get a fuller and rounder 

 mass of colour, and we now find besides 

 that the shortening of both corolla and 

 spathe is equally necessary to fit them 

 for the height to which they have been 

 elevated. 



We have already noticed the deep green 

 colour of the leaves. These are very long, 

 and in their upper portion look singularly 

 flat and strap-like, with a broad round 

 point which seems cut off abruptly, nay, 

 is absolutely notched in the middle. And 

 this flatness and bluntness are taken, as 

 usual, up by other parts of the plant. The 



8l F 



