492 THE UNIVERSE. 



CHAPTEE XI. 



THE NUPTIALS OF PLANTS. 



Dai'wiii wrote a delightful poem entitled the Loves of 

 the Plants, which is in the hands of every lady in Great 

 Britain. The chaste pen of the English naturalist has 

 there sketched, in the most attractive manner, the mys- 

 terious history of the fecundation of plants. All is hidden 

 behind a most graceful veil, and there is nothing to alarm 

 the strictest propriety. 



As we have seen, the flower is difficult to describe. 

 Linnaeus, by the medium of one of the most ingenious 

 metaphors, gives a charming idea of it. It is, he says, the 

 nuptial couch in which the wedding of the plants is cele- 

 brated. This yields a delightful perfume of poesy, l^ut so 

 soon as we aspire to more exactitude the difficulty begins. 



What is popularly called the flower is only the use- 

 less and sumptuous ornament (if it; the most essential 

 parts lie unperceived. In the eyes of the botanist the true 

 floral apparatus consists only of the little filaments placed 

 near the centre. These are the spouses : the pistils or 

 brides, and the stamens or bridegrooms. 



It is for them that nature displays her most sumptuous 

 adornments. The velvety curtains of their virgin couch, 

 woven by the hands of fairies, steep them in light and fire 

 amidst their folds of purple and emei-ald. In one part 

 faithless husbands profusely scatter life and fecundity on 

 everything around them; in another chaste households 



