AND ORNAMENTAL TREATMENT. 9 



their position on the stem. The Hedge Mustard is a very common plant on waste ground by the 

 wayside ; the flower is very small, and unsuited to designing purposes ; but the leaves are very 

 good in form, and might well be introduced into an ornamental composition. In the lower leaves 

 the terminal lobe is very large. 



Fig. 32 is the stem section of the Aspidospermum excelsum, a native of British Guiana, 

 As we shall have occasion, in plate 5, to refer to it again, we shall for the present defer further 

 remark. 



The remaining illustrations are given as useful examples of flower forms. The Daffodil 

 (Narcissus pseudo-narcissus, fig. 28) is frequently to be met with in the early spring in moist 

 woods and thickets, and when found at all is generally in great profusion ; this, added to its 

 brilliancy of colour, makes it, when thus seen, a very striking and beautiful plant. - Wordsworth, 

 with his usual fidelity to Nature, and his delicate perception of her beauties, has, in these lines — 



" A host of golden Daflfodils 

 Beside the lake, beneath the trees. 

 Fluttering and dancing in the breeze" — 



very well indicated these salient points. Though admirably adapted to the requirements of 

 ornamental art, and a plant very characteristic of the spring, it has been but sparingly used. The 

 only example we are able to quote is on a plate of Wedgwood cream-coloured ware, in the 

 ceramic collection at the South Kensington Museum, where the plant, though in shades of purple 

 colour, is very naturalistic in form and general treatment. 



The Corn-cockle ( Agrostemma Githago) affords the very striking looking rosette seen in 

 fig. 29. It owes its beauty to the very elongated and decided forms of the calyx segments, alter- 

 nating with the petals of the corolla. Though now frequently to be met with in corn fields it is 

 not a true native. It is one of the enemies of the agriculturist ; but it has become so thoroughly 

 naturalised that its extirpation is now impossible. We have seen it introduced very effectively in 

 a Missal of the i6th century, one of the MSS. of the valuable collection in our National Museum. 

 The treatment, in accordance .with the spirit of that period, is very naturalistic, being pictorial 

 rather than truly ornamental, the flower, with moths and dragon-flies, being painted in its natural 

 colours, on a ground of gold, upon which it throws its shadow, a mode of treatment not altogether 

 in harmony with the~ practice of the best periods of decorative art. 



The flowers of the various species of Hypericum, or St. John's Wort, like the flower of 

 the Periwinkle, that we have already noticed, are good examples of a regular, symmetrical form, 

 produced by units in themselves unsymmetrical. The flower of the H. Hirsutum (fig. 31) is an 

 illustration of this. 



It will ordinarily be found that the various parts of a flower stand in a certain numerical 

 relation to each other ; thus we frequently meet with plants in which some of the parts are in 

 threes, while others are in multiples of three ; thus in the Iridacetz, or Iris Family, the perianth is 

 composed of six parts, while there are three stamens, either three stigmas or one stigma, with 

 three divisions, and a three-celled ovary. In other plants the parts are in fours, or multiples of 

 that number ; thus, for example, the Holly (Ilex aquifolium) has four sepals, four petals, four 

 stamens, and four stigmas, while the Evening Primrose (CEnothera biennis) has the calyx four- 

 cleft, the petals in fours, and the stamens eight in number. A very common arrangement is that 

 based on the figure five; the Dianthus Armeria, for instance, has a five-toothed calyx, five petals, 

 and ten stamens. Arrangements in twos are not nearly so commonly met with as any of the fore- 

 going ; still, as we occasionally meet with such, it will be well not quite to ignore them. The 

 Enchanter's Nightshade (Circcea Lutetiana) is an example, as its calyx is two-cleft, the corolla 

 has two petals, there are two stamens, a two-lobed stigma, and a two-celled ovary. 



The Corn-cockle is an illustration of the observance of this law of numerical relationship, 

 as it has a five-toothed calyx, a corolla of five petals, five styles, and ten stamens ; while the St 

 John's Wort is an exception to it, as, though it has a calyx and corolla each composed of five parts, 

 there are only three styles, you will notice, in the centre of the flower. 



Some of the exceptions to this law are very curious, when contrasted with the strict 

 adherence to it that may be traced in the vast majority of plants ; thus the Claytonia perfoliata, 

 a native of Northern America, though now getting so commonly distributed over England that it 

 is claiming a place as of right in our Flora, has a three-cleft style, five stamens, five petals, and a 

 calyx of only two segments. So universal is the law, however, that exceptions as striking as 

 this are rarely to be met with. 



Many natural floral forms are very striking, and, while, interesting as variations from what 

 we ordinarily accept as the normal type of a flower, are also frequently of great beauty and 

 ornamental value. Such an one is shown in fig. 30 — the flower of the Dielytra spectabilis, or 



