Flowers and Gardens 



surface, and melting into that deeper 

 flame, a faint rosy tint, soft and delicate 

 as that which the sunset casts when it 

 fades upon the summits of the Alps. 

 Then gather a flower, and look into it 

 when expanded in more steady sunlight. 

 You will see that what at first seem the 

 white reflections are in every part of this 

 exquisite rose-colour, or violet, which looks 

 beautiful under the microscope in a strip 

 of the petal skin. It was this tint which, 

 playing over the outside of the flower, and 

 perhaps blending with a glimpse of orange 

 from within, caused the appearance we 

 have noticed. And now let us study the 

 flower a little more closely. Take one 

 fully expanded, and hold it so that the 

 light may enter the cup ; you see there 

 are six petals,^ three outer and three inner. 

 Though at first sight apparently alike in 

 colour, close attention will show that the 

 inner segments are of deeper hue and 

 more distinctly orange than the outer. 

 This does not matter much to us just 

 now, except as tending to give variety 

 and gradation. But we must carefully 

 observe the colour itself. Like most 

 things that are very beautiful, it varies 



^ [Not true petals, but a perianth of six divisions. — 

 H. N. K] 



