33° 



FREAKS OF PLANT LIFE. 



are strangely like ox-eye daisies (fig. 71). Our pretty 

 little yellow " rock rose " {Heliaiitliemuni) reminds one 



of the yellow species of 

 Potentilla, or the wood 

 crowfoot (Ranunculus), 

 and yet all three flowers 

 belong to widely-sepa- 

 rated natural orders. An 

 instance also occurs to us 

 in which an experienced 

 botanist misnamed the 

 flowers of Coffea bengal- 

 ensis, as those of Taber- 

 nemontana, although they 

 belong to families with 

 no family connection." So 

 also the inflorescence of 

 DodecatJicon, nearly allied 

 to the Cyclamen of the 

 gardens, is not uncom- 

 monly mistaken for that 

 of the dog's tooth violet 

 (Erythronium dens cams'), 

 which it imitates in size, 

 form, colour, *and even in 

 the bending backwards of 

 the petals. Many of the myrtle family are excellent 

 imitators of the Rosacea, and the rotate flowers of the 



Fig. 72. — Rock Rose (Heli- 

 anthemum). 



