270 



THAT'S IT ; 



684. 



shapes, some being globular, 4, 

 others flask-shaped, 3, others 

 egg-shaped, 1 ; some smooth and 

 waxen, while others are covered 

 with prickly hairs, 1, 2. We shall 

 have some interesting particulars 

 to give of the rose, when exa- 

 mining " our garden." But we 

 must here 

 remark 

 upon the 

 difference 

 observable 

 between 

 wild and 

 cult ivated 

 roses. If 

 we take the 

 hedge - rose, 

 we find that 

 its. number of petals, or flower- 

 leaves, is five ; but, when culti- 

 vated, the number 

 creases, until, 

 in the perfect 

 rose of the gar- 

 den, we find the \| 

 corolla consist- 

 ing wholly of 

 petals, the sta- 

 mens, the slen- 

 der yellow- top- 

 ped fibrils, oc- 

 cupying the 

 centre of the 

 wild rose, 5, 685. 

 being in the cultivated one, 

 all converted into petals. 



Cultivation has done wonderful 

 things for the enhancement of 

 floral beauties ; and perhaps this 

 fact is in no instance more con- 

 spicuous than in the history of 

 the rose. Our ancestors, even 

 down to a period approaching 

 our own times, must have rea- 



6, 



lised few of the floral inspira- 

 tions which we are now privi- 

 leged to draw from the poetry 

 of flowers. 



The floral beauties Gf Great Britain were 

 confined to those wild flowers which are the 

 delight of childhood. The eyes of the 41 barha- 

 rians " looked upon the modest daisy, which 

 then presented the same simple form that it 

 does to-day. Primroses, nursed in the recesses 

 of gnarled roots of trees, came forth in abun- 

 dance in the spring; so did the bluebell, and 

 the violet. These familiar flowers, with dog- 

 roses, fox- gloves, traveller'' s joy, flowering heaths, 

 and water lilies, were the chief beauties of the 

 bouquet of ancient Britain. Fuchsias, balsams, 

 dahli is, auriculas, hyacinths, pinks, tulips, roses, 

 and a host of other beauties that now adorn 

 our gardens and dwellings, were then quite 

 unknown. Even the wall-flower and the migno- 

 nette were strangers to our land; and the 

 honeysuckle, which is now a common habitant 

 of the hedges, came to Britain a stranger, and 

 stole out of the confines of a garden to share 

 the fortunes of our native wild flowers. Nor 

 was this state of the British flora peculiar tc 

 the earliest period : it prevailed, with only 

 slight additions and improvements, down to 

 the sixteenth century!* 



686. 



The woodbine, or honeysuckle, 

 7, is another of the favourite 

 flowers of our hedge-rows. It 



* Philp'i Historv of Progress in Great Drituia. 



