Bringing Forth an Entirely 

 New Color 



And Other Important Work With the Poppies 



FOR some reason blue is not a favorite color 

 among flowers. 

 There are notable and conspicuous ex- 

 ceptions, of course, but for every species of blue 

 flower in nature there are hundreds of flowers 

 that are yellow, or red, or white. 



Presumably the color blue does not attract the 

 eye of the insect so strikingly as do the other pri- 

 mary colors. Flowers are not green for the obvi- 

 ous reason that, since leaves in general are green, 

 flowers of that color would blend with the foliage, 

 and thus defeat the primal purpose of the floral 

 envelope. 



And, no doubt, blue is a color nearer to green 

 in its hue or general aspect than are the reds and 

 yellows. 



So it is perhaps not surprising that natural 

 selection has weeded out the blue flowers and 



[Volume IX — Chapter IV] 



