GENTIANELLA. 



Gentiana acaulis. 



j^KLUE flowers are the least plen- 

 tiful, and the philosophers 

 tell us the reason why. All 

 flowers, they say, were at 

 first green ; from this they 

 diverged to yellow and 

 white; their next advance 

 was to shades of red. Their 

 triumphant colour — or, say, 

 their final stage in chromatic 

 evolution — is blue. If we 

 accept the hypothesis — for 

 theory it is not — we must 

 regard the gentians as in- 

 capable of further change in 

 respect of colour ; they have 

 passed through all the pre- 

 scribed phases, and having 

 reached the goal, may rest 

 and be thankful, while 

 myriads of flowers in the 

 earlier stages are still slowly fighting their way to the 

 "blue ribbon" of the turf amidst which they sparkle 

 and glow. 



