22 PLANTS: THEIR NATURAL GROWTH 



when it is what would ordinarily be called a pod, as in the Broom (fig. 96), Bush Vetch (Victa 

 sepium, fig. 130), or the Everlasting Pea (Lathyrus latifolius, fig. 166). The legume, mstead ot 

 being straight, as in the preceding examples, may be twisted in a spiral form, as m the po^l o* the 

 Spotted Medick (Medicago maculata), or very much inflated, as in the Bladder Senna (Lolutea 

 arborescens). The drupe is the form assumed by the Peach (Amygdalus Persica), or the Date 

 (Phcenix dactylifera), a succulent fruit, with central seed enclosed in a hard shell : what is 

 familiarly termed a stone-fruit. The nut is a hard and dry fruit, as in the Acorn (Quercus robur) 

 or the Filbert (Corylus Avellana). The berry, or bacca, is soft and fleshy, and contams numerous 

 seeds, as in the Currant (Ribes rubrum). The beautiful ornamental form known as the Samara 

 (see fig. 333) is a winged nut ; examples of it may be seen in the Maple (Acer campestre), or the 

 Ash (Fraxinus excelsior). The Pome, an apple-like fruit ; the Etaerio of the Raspberry (Rubus 

 idcBus), an aggregation of several small drupes ; the Capsule, a dry fruit, opening by valves or 

 pores, as in the Poppy (Papaver Rhceas, fig. 324), or the Foxglove ( Digitalis purpurea, ^g. 294) ; 

 and the Siliqua of the Wallflower (Cheiranthus Cheiri), are other forms ; but, as examples of all 

 of them may so freely be met with, we need not enter into any lengthened descriptions of them. 

 Fruits may be either simple, as in the Blackberry (Rubus fruticosus), resulting from one flower ; 

 or multiple, as in the Cone, the result of an aggregation of flowers. 



A further point for the consideration of the ornamentist, when employing fruit forms in 

 relief work, arises from the various surfaces and textures found in Nature ; thus some fruits, as the 

 Cherry, are smooth ; some, as the Peach, velvet-like ; others papery and crisp, as in the Columbine; 

 some downy, as the Peony; others like Horse Chestnut or Thorn-apple (figs. 311,321), spiny. 

 Ornamental treatments, introducing some of the varied forms of fruit, may be seen in figs. 131, 

 310, 311, 316, 319, 321, 327, 329, 330, 331, 333. 



PLATE 10. 



" The world was made to be inhabited by beasts, but studied and contemplated by man ; 'tis the debt of reason we owe to 

 God, and the homage we pay for not being beasts. The wisdom of God receives small honour from those vulgar heads that rudely 

 stare about, and with gross rusticity admire His works ; those highly magnify Him, whose judicious enquiry into His acts, and 

 deliberate research into His creatures, return the duty of a devout and learned admiration." — Religio Medici, A.d. 1686. 



The Milk Thistle (Carduus Marianus). This, one of our most ornamental wild plants, 

 has been little used, if at all, in design — a fact that will, no doubt, be fully accounted for by its 

 comparative rarity. It is a very conspicuous plant, attaining to a height of about five feet, and 

 having a profusion of large leaves ; one of the lower leaves, if drawn to the natural size, would 

 have required a greater width of space than our whole plate affords, and a length equal to some 

 four of these sheets joined together ; we have, therefore, been obliged to choose our leaf from 

 some distance up the plant. The most striking and distinctive characteristics of the plant are the 

 large recurved subfoliaceous scales round the flower head, and the beautiful variegation and rich- 

 ness of effect produced by the white veinings and blotches on the upper surface of the leaf The 

 spiny involucral scales — seen in elevation in figs. 102, 103, and in plan in fig. 104 — are very 

 suggestive features for the designer. In old botanical books the plant is often called our Lady's 

 Thistle, or Holy Thistle, a relic of monkish superstition, as the white markings of the veins were 

 said to have been first produced by the milk of the Virgin Mary falling upon them ; hence, too, 

 the specific name Marianus in further allusion to this old legend. The plant, though rare in 

 England, has by some accidental means been introduced into Australia, and has spread so 

 abundantly that special legislation, with a view to its destruction, has been necessary. 



Thorns, spines, or prickles, though associated in the minds of most persons with the curse 

 pronounced in Eden, cannot but be features of interest to the designer, as by their introduction a far 

 greater richness of effect is produced than would often be possible in their absence ; as a proof of 

 this the reader may turn to figs. 311, 321. Though ordinarily met with on the stems or leaves, 

 all the organs of plants are capable of a degree of induration that may transform them into spiny 

 points. The most frequent cause of thorns or spines arises from the retarded development of 

 branches: thus in the Blackthorn (Prunus spinosa) the spines spring like true branches from the axils 

 of the leaves, and frequently bear leaves themselves. A further proof that these spinous processes 

 must be regarded as defective branch developments is seen in the fact that a plant growing in dry, 

 poor soil is much more spiny than one under more favourable circumstances ; in the first case 

 many of the branches are abortive, in the second they are fully developed ; thus it is that many 

 plants, as the Plum and Pear, spiny in their natural wild growth, lose their thorny points by 

 cultivation. The ramal origin of these spines will also enable us to see how it is that, while as a 

 rule thorns are simple forms, they are in some cases branched, as in the Christ's-thorn (Gleditschia 



