KIDD'S OWN JOURNAL. 



97 



OUK EASLY FLOWERS. 



THE WINTER ACONITE. 



'Tis not. alone to please the sense of smell 



Or charm the sight, that flowers to us are given ; 



A thousand sanctities do them invest, 



And bright associations hallow them ! 



These to the cultivated intellect 



Do give delight, and all the heart improve. 



ery precious to the lovers 

 of Nature are those few 

 flowers which brave the 

 severity of our winter 

 months, and put forth their 

 beauties at every interval be- 

 tween the frosts and snows of 

 our rough and dreary season. 

 We can very well imagine the exquisite 

 pleasure, after a Canadian winter has for 

 months cut off all communion with plants 

 and flowers, of the sudden burst of vegetation, 

 and the rapid progress and quick succession of 

 revivin.1 nature ; but we must confess a pre- 

 ference for our own more varying climate, in 

 which we are not obliged for any long period 

 to give up our interest in our gardens, and 

 even in very harsh and chilling weather some 

 stray blossom will peep forth — often pushing 

 from beneath the half-melted snow — to con- 

 nect through ail our months the blooming 

 wreath of the circling year. 



It is a cheering sight, in January or 

 February, as the particular season or situ- 

 ation may permit, to see the damp, rough 

 ground, opening to admit the passage of the 

 pretty modest flower Ave mean now to speak 

 of, which soon expands itself fully, looking 

 to the uninstructed eye something like a 

 dwarf buttercup — and, in truth, it has a near 

 relationship with that familiar favorite of 

 our childhood. But let us examine it a little 

 more closely — and that we may do this to 

 good purpose, a few preliminary remarks 

 will be found useful by those who are new 

 to such subjects, or have not been led to a 

 right method of considering them. 



The flower is the reproductive system of 

 vegetables. Its parts are reducible to four ; 

 occupying successive circles round a common 

 centre, and all consisting of modifications of 

 the leaf. The four circles are, however, by 

 no means all present in every flower, and 

 each is occasionally multiplied ; so that the 

 variety we see in flowers may be referred 

 almost entirely to the suppression or de- 

 velopment, the equal or unequal nourishment 

 (causing regularity or irregularity), and the 

 comparative nearness or remoteness (leading 

 to union or separation) of these parts. If we 

 combine these circumstances with the peculia- 

 rities of surface, substance, and mode of folding 

 in the bud, of each particular kind, and with 

 the characteristic numbers in the circles, 

 which, when not concealed by partial sup- 

 pression, mark the two great divisions of the 



higher portion of the vegetable kingdom, we 

 have the key to all the vast variety in the 

 structure of flowers which calls forth so much 

 admiration. From the simplest known form 

 in which but a simple organ of one kind re- 

 mains, to the instances which exhibit the 

 greatest multiplication or composition of 

 parts, we learn to view all in their relations 

 to the others, and amidst apparent differences 

 to trace the real resemblances. 



The four principal circles consist of an outer 

 leaf-like covering ; an inner, generally more 

 delicate and colored covering, also leaf-like 

 in form ; a set of organs which are the source 

 of fertilisation to the seed ; and a set of 

 organs producing on their margins the seeds 

 themselves, which are the eggs of plants, 

 and providing for their nourishment until 

 they are ready for an independent existence. 



After this general description, in which 

 technical terms have been entirely avoided — 

 since, though easily learned and useful to 

 the student, they are repulsive to those who 

 merely seek a little general information, and 

 they do not constitute the science, but are 

 only a short-hand, convenient to those who 

 pursue it, — every one will find it easy to 

 understand the peculiarities of the flower of 

 which we are speaking. 



A ruff of green surrounds it ; but it is 

 hardly a part of it. We might almost think 

 that the flower-bud rises from the midst of an 

 ordinary leaf which is but slightly changed. 

 It does not at all wrap round the flower to 

 protect it, but spreads itself out just like the 

 partitions of the leaf where no flower occurs. 

 The outer circle, which in so many flowers 

 is green, and of the substance of a leaf — here, 

 though greenish at first, soon becomes bright 

 yellow. There are six parts (in another 

 known species eight) arising, in fact, from two 

 imperfect circles of five each. The second 

 circle, which in most flowers is the most 

 conspicuous colored and ornamental one, 

 here consists of a set of low green cups, con- 

 taining nectar — a peculiarity of structure 

 which marks the hellebores, and may be 

 seen in the Christmas rose, and the common 

 green hellebore, as well as in the plant before 

 us. 



These are exquisitely beautiful, and 

 deserve careful examination. Who can see 

 without admiration the provision thus stored 

 up to supply the wants of the early wander- 

 ing insect ? Who can look upon the 

 regularly formed two-lipped vessels, each 

 filled with its sparkling self-produced drop, 

 without feeling that there is here a, gift for 

 some creature, which chance has not be- 

 stowed, but which speaks to the heart of the 

 intelligent observer, of a wise and benefit ent 

 Author of Nature ? 



The third floral circle is, in the case before 

 us, very much multiplied, generally reaching 



Vol. V.— 7. 



