THE ELOBAL MAGAZINE 
NEW SERIES.] 
APRIL, 1874. 
THE COLOURS OF FLOWERS. 
No art can possibly do justice to the refulgent tints 
found amongst flowering plants. It is not only in the 
flaming scarlets and crimsons that art fails, for it falls 
equally short in any attempt to exactly reproduce the 
most modest tints. It is common to hear those who are 
not intimately acquainted with flowers say that certain 
artists exaggerate, in their pictures, the rich coloration 
of nature, but this is simply impossible : and plant- 
growers know only too well that no artist can satisfac- 
torily put on paper or canvas the tints of his favourites. 
True it is, that one sees at exhibitions of oil and water- 
colour paintings, and in some magazines — as in the one 
we now write for — plants portrayed in which the colours 
seem refulgent enough ; but if these copies from nature 
be placed side by side with nature itself, there is as 
much difference between the colours of the two as between 
harmony and discord in music. 
The one thing artists can never perfectly get is 
transparency, and this difficulty is far more insurmount- 
able in the illustrations for a journal like the Floral 
Magazine. It is as impossible to represent the opal-like 
light seen passing through the petals of some white lilies 
as it would he to paint the rays of light playing about a 
diamond, or the blaze of fire from the sun itself. The best 
and purest scarlet colour used by artists, if placed by the 
side of the petals of a Field Poppy or Geranium, imme- 
diately looks like a piece of clay. The same with crimsons : 
our best crimson lakes, when placed near the petals of 
some Geraniacese, at once put on a liver-like appearance. 
Scarlets, in nature, are transparent, and such a thing as 
a transparent scarlet pigment is unknown. Now if we 
glaze over one of our artificial scarlets with a wash 
of pure purple, the painting immediately looks like mud ; 
but what is more common in some scarlet Orchids (as in 
Masdevallia Veitchii) than to see a vivid scarlet, shot 
with brilliant purple? On an examination of the 
epidermal cells with a microscope some of the mystery 
is explained, but any attempt at imitation inevitably 
ends in failure. The same remarks apply with equal 
truth to all other tints — be they purple, blue, green, 
yellow, or orange. It is in the experience of every artist 
that, on looking at some flower possessing brilliant 
coloration, the tint he at first took for scarlet soon 
appears to him as scarlet-orange; when, on returning 
to the plant, it is crimson-scarlet, or a crimson pos- 
sibly shot with some magenta hue. In every light 
[No. 28. 
flowers display new tints, new effects of light and 
shade, and new beauties, which the artist is indeed for- 
tunate if he can at all catch. Yellows, as found in some 
Oncidiums, are very pure and lovely, and our chromes 
come nearest ; hut chromes are perfectly opaque, whilst 
the yellows in the Orchids are as perfectly transparent. 
It is common for artists to fail in their tints of green, 
not because of their non-appreciation of the colour, but 
because no artificial greens can be found or compounded 
to properly match nature. Some light-coloured Roses 
are especially difficult ; the petals do not appear of the 
same tint when detached from the flowers, and in 
matching the hue for imitation, the petals first appear 
rose, with a blush of transparent scarlet; then a sugges- 
tion of salmon colour shows itself, or a glimmering of 
rosy-purple, which in theory seems impossible, but in 
nature is a reality. These tints, without doubt, all 
exist in the flower itself, but no artist, except the Great 
Designer of all flowers, can perfectly reproduce them. 
W. G. S. 
FLOWER SIIOAYS. 
Two very brilliant and successful Exhibitions of Flowers 
were held by the Royal Horticultural Society at South 
Kensington on March 4th and 18th. At the first meet- 
ing, Messrs. Veiteh exhibited an excellent group of 
Orchids, Roses, and Clematis, together with a magnifi- 
cent new Rhododendron, Duchess of Edinburgh, and a 
new Orchid recently described in the Gardener's Chro- 
nicle for March 7th, by Professor Reichenbaeh, under 
the name of Dendrobium Boxallii. We intend to give 
figures of both these plants in our next number. Mr. 
Bull sent Eucholirium corallinum, which we shall illus- 
trate, and a striking new species of Medinilla; whilst 
Messrs. E. G. Henderson and Sons furnished a fine col- 
lection of Cyclamens and other plants of great beauty 
and interest. The Flower Show of March 18th was 
principally interesting on account of the admirable dis- 
play of Hyacinths, furnished by Messrs. Yeitch, Cut- 
bush, Carter, and Wm. Paul. We shall shortly figure 
a notable new Hyacinth exhibited by the first-mentioned 
firm. Tulips, Crocuses, and Cyclamens were well shown ; 
as were novelties in Hardy Primroses by Mr. R. Dean, 
of Ealing. Amongst Orchids, Messrs. Yeitch, Williams, 
and Bull were the principal exhibitors, the latter gentle- 
man sending a magnificent plant of Masdevallia Lindeni, 
said to be the finest in Europe; and Mr. Williams, who 
