56 PLANTS: THEIR NATURAL GROWTH 



summit of its support, a marked alteration takes place ; it develops a rounded and dense mass of 

 foliage, no longer divided, but of simple heart-shaped character, it then throws out flowering stems, 

 and these, after bearing their bunches of pale yellow blossoms, are crowned by the succeeding 

 clusters of dark brown berries, hence we see that we cannot consistently introduce the very 

 beautiful five-pointed leaves and the equally decorative clusters of fruit in one design, without a 

 violation of the natural facts of the case ; we have, therefore, with all respect to the beautiful 

 character of the Mediaeval design, fig. 316, sketched, in fig. 310, a panel, that, if not so beautiful a 

 composition in itself is truer in its details. It may be said that this in an ornamental design is a 

 matter of little consideration, but we cannot ourselves feel this, as it appears to us that the right 

 principle is this — either to so far conventionalise the plant as to render any such modification no 

 longer an evident violation of natural fact, or, on the other hand, if naturalness of detail be aimed 

 at, to make it thorough-going and complete throughout the work. 



The Horse Chestnut furnishes the material for our 311th illustration. It is a native of 

 Northern India, being first introduced into Europe by Clusius, about the middle of the sixteenth 

 century : the scientific name is yEsculus hippocastanunt. The English name, according to some 

 writers, points to the value of its nuts as provender for horses, a value that is by no means 

 ascertained, while others affirm that it derives its name from the large and conspicuous scar that is 

 seen when a leaf falls from the stem, the mark being very similar in form to a horse-shoe. From 

 the large size and striking character of its heads of flowers, it is sometimes called Giants' Nosegay, 

 or Lupin Tree. Chestnut is a corruption of Castana, a city of Pontus, whence the first specimens 

 were derived. Most of the foreign names of the plant indicate its Eastern origin ; thus in France 

 it is the Marronier d'Inde ; in Italy, the Castagno cf India; in Portugal, the Castanheiro da India. 

 The flowers, though beautiful, objects in form and colour when viewed in their natural growth, are 

 too small in their details to permit of successful introduction into ornament, but the large palmate 

 leaves and prickly fruit are admirable features, and it is these that we have endeavoured to treat 

 in our design. 



The Stone-Crop (Sedum acre) is represented in its natural growth in fig. 3 1 2, while figs. 

 313, 314, 317, are illustrations of its use in design, the latter (fig. 317) being from some old 

 English embroidery, temp. Henry VI. ; the others, designs of our own. In fig. 313, the plan view 

 is selected, in fig. 314, the elevation view; In both cases the object proposed being to convey an 

 idea of the masses of yellow stars that are so beautiful a feature in the natural growth, and that 

 give it one of its familiar names, the Golden Moss. It is also called Wall-Pepper from its biting 

 flavour, a property that in some parts of the Continent leads' to its cultivation as an ingredient in 

 salads. 



The Lesser Celandine (Ranunculus Ficaria) apart from its inherent beauty, derives great 

 interest from its early appearance, its profusion of star-like blossoms, imbedded in the dark green 

 glossy leaves, being one of the earliest indications of coming Spring, as damp hedge-banks and 

 coppices are often brilliant with its yellow stellate flowers at the beginning of March. It 

 was an especial favourite with the poet Wordsworth, and is often referred to in his writings, while 

 it is sculptured with folded petals on the white marble stone that marks his resting-place at 

 Grassmere. The flower is subject to considerable variation in the number of its parts, though the 

 petals are the most subject to this, as in one hundred test blossoms we picked at random 

 as an experiment, ninety-seven had three sepals, of these, two had ten petals, nine had seven 

 petals, eighteen had nine petals, the number ordinarily given in books as normal ; sixty-eight had 

 eight petals ; while one had five sepals and fourteen petals, one had four sepals and seven petals, 

 and the last had four sepals and nine petals. Our design shows the more ordinary form found in 

 the leaves, though these, like the blossoms, are subject to a certain amount of modification, and are 

 at times spotted or blotched with irregular masses of a lighter green. 



Figs. 318, 319, are from old examples, the first from a tomb in Chichester Cathedral, 

 the second from Southwell Minster. The monument at Chichester is of the form known as an 

 altar tomb; running round its four sides is a series of quatrefoil panels with figure subjects, the 

 form shewn in our drawing being the filling in between the quatrefoils. It is difficult to say what 

 the exact leaf is that suggested the form filling the space, as there are several leaves nearly 

 resembling it, our object in introducing it is as an illustration of the great adaptability of this 

 palmate character of leaf to the purposes of design. The Christmas Rose, Cinquefoil, Horse- 

 Chestnut, Shining Crane's-bill, Tormentil, Bane-berry, Maple, Vine, and many other plarits have 

 foliage more or less resembling the form here introduced. The lower example is -based on 

 the white Bryony ; an illustration of the natural growth will be found at fig. 90. As we have 

 already dealt with the plant,^ describing its habitat, &c., we need not now do more than refer our 

 readers back to the description of plate VIII., the plate devoted to the plant. 



The design, fig. 320, has the Cinquefoil, Potentilla reptans, as its basis, the leaf only being 



