54 PHENOMENA OF PLANT-LIFE. 



the great purple and cone-like buds of the rhododen- 

 dron, which are built up wholly of bracts and flowers 

 within. 



Next in order of position to the calyx, come the 

 " petals." These are the parts which it is usual to 

 call the "leaves" of the flower ; but the term is in- 

 correct. Leaves are the green organs which prepare 

 the food of the plant, and in the aggregate constitute 

 the foliage. These colored portions are of totally dif- 

 ferent function, and in texture and substance, are also 

 quite unlike. They should no more be called 

 "leaves," than fingers should be called toes, but 

 always be denominated by their special name of 

 "petals." Collectively they constitute the "corol- 

 la," literally the little crown, i. e. as signifying that 

 the expansion of the flower is like the placing of the 

 diadem on the brows of a monarch. There may be a 

 literal truthfulness in the name as well, depending on 

 the resemblance of the circular cup, found in certain 

 description of flowers, to the golden circlet that 

 forms the essential portion of a crown or coronet. 

 But names such as these have generally an inner and 

 higher meaning. They were imposed by men in the 

 beginning from a better ground than simple compari- 

 son ; they sprang from that intuitive perception of 

 the original harmonies of things, in which all the best 

 and most living part of language, finds its begininng 

 and its explanation. The corolla, like the calyx, is sim- 



