318 THAT 



grotesque forms ; their stems are 

 angular, and attain the height of 

 thirty feet ; others are roundish, 

 covered with stiff spines like the 

 hedgehog, and not exceeding a 

 few inches in height. Notwith- 

 standing the singular appear- 

 ance of their stems, their flowers 

 are in some instances truly gor- 

 geous, and vary from pure white 

 to rich scarlet and purple, 

 through all the intermediate 

 gradations of colour. They are 

 chiefly natives of the hottest and 

 dry est parts of the world, but 

 some of them have been rendered 

 hardy in temperate latitudes. 

 Though succulent, and rich in 

 flowers, they thrive in the merest 

 rubbish. 



19 



875. 



Dahlias, 19, so named after 

 Andrew Dahl, a Swedish bota- 

 nist, pupil of Linneaus, are de- 

 servedly among the most fashion- 

 able hardy plants. They were 

 introduced from Mexico, where 

 they grow in sandy meadows, 

 producing small single flowers, 

 purple, scarlet, orange, and yel- 

 low. By cultivation the most 

 perfect heads have been produced, 



's it; 



and every variety of tint and 

 colour. Such is the response 

 which nature makes to the 

 labours of those who seek to 

 enrich the earth. 



The pretty little favourite 

 flower, mignonette, 20, well 

 known for the apparent sim- 

 plicity of its blossoms, which are 



20 



876. 



borne upon nodding spikes, and 

 the sweet odour exhaled there- 

 from, has always been esteemed 

 alike for the window or the 

 garden. That simple-seeming 

 flower has been a cause of great 

 perplexity to botanists. The 

 inflorescence of this plant, and 

 the family to which it belongs, 

 is remarkable, and is thus de- 

 scribed by Professor Lindley : — 



"The usual idea of the flower of reseda [the 

 botanical genus to which mignonette belongs] 

 has been, that it is furnished with a calyx of a 

 variable number of divisions, with as many 

 petals, producing from their surface certain 

 anomalous appendages ; and with an ovary and 

 stamens inserted in a great fleshy body, called 

 nectary by Linnean botanists, squama by others, 

 and raised to the rank of a distinct organ by 

 Mirbel, under the name of gynophorc. . . . 



