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PLANTS:
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INTRODUCTION.
"Every rational creature has all Nature for his dowry and estate; it is his if he will"—Emerson.
JHE application of vegetable forms to the creations of ornamental art has been in the past
so universal, that we need scarcely dwell at length upon the value of a knowledge of such
forms to. the ornamentist, in order that he may either study, with due appreciation, the
labours of his predecessors, or himself follow in their footsteps.
In almost all periods of art, Nature has been largely drawn upon, the only marked ex-
ceptions being in Celtic ornament, where, though vegetable forms are met with in MSS., the
greater bulk of the ornament is zoomorphic, consisting of entwining monsters, or, at other times,
composed of very curious and complicated arrangements of interlacing bands; or in those styles
where a religious prohibition of the representation of any living thing deterred the designer.
Under this head we may include all art under Mahomedan influence; for, though the Persians to
some extent disregard the law, the forms are generally very conventional, and in this respect, as
in several others, they place themselves under the ban of those who deem themselves true
followers of the prophet How far we may ourselves regard such use as opposed to religious
obligations, may be readily tested by a consideration of the directions so carefully given to
Solomon for his guidance in building a house meet for the Deity, where the lily, the pomegranate,
the palm, and other plants, are frequently mentioned as parts of the general scheme of decoration;
while, in our own beautiful cathedrals, we may study how little our forefathers felt such subjects
unfit for highest use, since many of them have their capitals, stringcourses, spandrils, &c, masses
of beautiful plant form—the sturdy oak, the graceful maple or bryony, the lowly buttercup, the
still lowlier fungus, being introduced in their work : all creations of the one great Father of all, and,
as testifying to His all-wise care and protection, not unworthy, humble and common-place as some
might think them, of honoured place in His house.
Ornamentists too commonly overlook the treasures that Nature scatters around them, and,
by a slavish adherence to a few set forms, deprive themselves of a valuable means of imparting
enhanced interest to their work. No remedy for this can be so effectual as personal study and
familiar acquaintance with rural scenes; but as, unfortunately, such opportunity of quiet study is
frequently out of the power of the designer, either from press of work or other restraining cause,
he must be content, at some loss of both pleasure and profit to himself, to derive his material from
the labours of others. We have said at some loss of pleasure—for there is an enjoyment in the
actual study of Natural beauty—
"In the sweet Spring days,
With whitening hedges and uncrumpling fern,
And blue-bells trembling by the forest ways,
And scent of hay new mown "—
that no attention to its merely pictured charms can compensate; and we have said, also, at some
loss of profit—for there is no comparison between referring merely to the work of another and
actually handling the natural plant, and noting its characteristic features in all their living beauty.
Many are, no doubt, deterred from a study of plants Irom an idea that Botany is too
technical a thing to be of any benefit to them. They exclaim, with Wordsworth—
"Let Nature be your teacher—
Sweet is the lore which Nature brings; our meddling intellect
Mis-shapes the beauteous forms of things, we murder to dissect
Enough of Science and of Art: close up those barren leaves;
Come forth, and bring with you a heart that watches and receives "—
as they recall some such passage as this—" Leaves ovate-oblong, subserrate, pulverulento-
tomentose." Without for a moment undervaluing the technicalities of botanical science, for they


4
PLANTS: THEIR NATURAL GROWTH
are most valuable, I would yet say that, at a very slight expenditure of time and trouble, the
designer might acquire a sufficient knowledge of the commoner botanical terms to enable him on
finding any plant to consult with ease some standard work, if he desired full information respecting
it The enjoyment and profit derived from direct study of Nature would be greatly increased by
this, and the sweetness of "the lore which Nature brings" would be enhanced by the greater
appreciation that would thus be brought to bear on it
We had at first proposed, in writing the present work, to carefully eschew all technicalities
of language, but on fuller consideration it has seemed desirable rather to use such terms, being
careful, as we proceed, to explain their meaning, since the botanical term, merely one word, will
often convey a significance that the substituted round-about description may, after all, not so
effectually compass. The leading terms, once acquired, are easily retained, and it is better to
master them once for all, as they are common to all writers on the subject (being found in all the
books the designer may have occasion, or wish, to refer to for either naming a plant or gathering
further information about it), than to forego numerous opportunities of acquiring useful knowledge
for want of a little study to begin with.
After the wonderful richness of natural form, perhaps the most striking feature is its
infinite variety. There is no stint, no repetition. Some leaves are long and tapering—some
round—some triangular. Some blossoms are so minute as to be almost or quite microscopic;
others, like the Rafflesia Arnoldi, of Sumatra, nine feet in circumference. In some plants the
leaves are placed singly on the stem, as in the water-cress; in others in pairs, as we see in the
privet or hop; in some cases in threes, as in the new American water-weed, that has now taken
possession of so many of our streams; in other plants, as the crosswort, in fours; and in some
cases in rings of eight or ten, all springing from the same level, as in the goose-grass. We need
not, however, dwell at any further length on this point: the present illustrations will tend to
indicate it, and a very slight study of Nature will much more amply and effectually confirm it
A very pleasing ornamental feature is found in the variation of form or colour often met
with in individual plants: thus, the first leaves are frequently of a different form to all the others
that succeed them. We see this very well exemplified in the Sunflower (fig. 27) and the Radish
(fig. 64). Many plants have their lower leaves richer in form than those that occur higher on the
plant; the Hedge Mustard (see figs. 33, 34) and the Shepherd's Purse (figs. 62, 63) are illustrations
of this—the richer form in each case being the lower one. Other examples may be seen in the
bulbous Crowfoot (plate 15), the Water Avens (plate 21), the Agrimony (plate 31), and the
Columbine (plate 37). In other plants this is reversed, the lower leaves being comparatively
simple in form, the upper ones richly cut, as in the Sowthistle, or Marsh Mallow (plate 7). Figs.
69, 70, 71, 72, on plate 6, are further good examples of this; the whole series being from one plant
—the ivy-leaved Speedwell, a not uncommon plant on arable land. These four examples show a
very delicate gradation of form from fig. 69, one of the lower leaves, through figs. 70 and 71, to
fig. 72, one of the higher leaves. In some instances the only difference perceptible is in the larger
size of "the lower leaves, all throughout the plant being of very similar form; the Bush Vetch
(plate 14) and the Ground Ivy (plate 18) are examples of this. - In some plants a valuable orna-
mental feature is seen in the forms of the opening bud. In the Sycamore (figs. 48, 59) the
transition is abrupt and immediate, from the scaly external forms to the true leaves within; while
in the Lilac, the gradation from the smallest scale to the fully developed leaf is very delicate.
Figs. 51, 52, 53, 54, 55, are examples of this development of form in the Lilac.
Variation of colour in a plant, though not so commonly to be noted as variation of form,
may also be studied with advantage. Thus we see what greatly increased richness it gives to
the flower of the Sweet William (fig. 39), where the deeper band forms a ring of enhanced colour;
or, again, in variegated Ivy, and the leaves (fig. 37) of many species of Pelargonium.
We might in the same way indicate many other points of study, but we refrain, preferring
rather to appeal to our illustrations; and the more especially as we can, in our remarks upon each
plate, better point out many little features than we are here, in a general introduction, able to do.
Without further preface, then, we pass to a consideration of the various points thus suggested,
endeavouring to make our remarks as practical as possible, in the hope that thus our pleasant
labours may prove of real utility to the follower of ornamental art


AND ORNAMENTAL TREATMENT.
DESCRIPTION OF THE PLATES.
PLATE 1.
"I shall be well pleased if I can say what is right, though it may not be of my own invention."—Quintilian.
N ornamental art, plants may be employed from various motives; thus, in some cases,
their beauty has evidently been the sole consideration in their selection, while, in others,
they have been chosen on account of an inner meaning involved. In the first case, the
art is aesthetic—beauty, for its own sake, as the end and aim; in the second, it is
symbolic—the outward and visible form conveying to the spectator a deeper meaning than it
inherently possesses. The second is the nobler aim, as the pleasure to be derived from any work
of art will be in direct proportion to the thought embodied in it Many plants have thus in past
art been used with this inner meaning; the Egyptians, for instance, largely employed the Lotus,
the beautiful lily of their sacred Nile, in their ornament, as a symbol of plenty, since it was one of
the most striking plants of that river, whose annual overflow caused the fertility of the land, and
made Egypt the granary of the ancient world. The Vine is very commonly used throughout
Christian art, and more especially during the Byzantine period, in allusion to such passages as—
"I am the true Vine." The Palm branch of victory, the Lily, emblem of spodessness of life, are
other examples ; and to those we may add the Snow-drop (of which we have a drawing in fig. 9),
since, in Roman Catholic countries, it is, together with the white garden Lily (Liiium Candidum),
accepted as a symbol of the Virgin Mary, and hence is frequently found in ecclesiastical decora-
tion. In some countries it is customary, on the day kept by that Church as that of her ascension,
to remove her images from their altars, and to strew the spot with this flower. Apart from this
religious significance, the plant is well worthy of the ornamentist's regard from its delicacy of form
and colour; and as the first sign of the awakening of Nature after the storms of winter, hence the
name Snow-drop, or, as the French term it, Perceneige—both names testifying to its early appear-
ance, while the generic name (Galanthus) is derived from two Greek words signifying milk flower.
"Earliest bud that decks the garden,
Fairest of the fragrant race,
First-born child of vernal Flora,
Seeking wild thy lowly place."—Longthorne.
Double flowers are frequently met with, even in its wild state; the transition in these from the
normal forms of the stamen to the petal, and then on to the sepal, is very interesting. A floral
leaf, as large as a sepal, sometimes only shows its petaloid character by its notched apex, and
by a slight line or two of green on it, while others, more heart-shaped, smaller in size, and
more regularly striped with lines of green, approximate more nearly to the normal form of petal.
In others again, the rudiments of an anther are seen—the form thus produced being transitional
from stamen to petal, while more nearly in the centre of the flower the forms become truly
staminoid. Figs. 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, show this gradation very well, the lower figure being the
normal form of the stamen; the upper, the normal form of sepal; the others, the intermediate
forms, merging from the one to the other. Fig. 12 is a detached sepal, fig. 13, a petal, while figs.
10 and 11 are the interior and exterior views of the natural single flower, as a whole.
The sepals in the Snow-drop are pure white; the petals white, having on the exterior a
spot of brilliant green, and the interior striped with the same colour, while the anthers are brilliant
orange. Where the plant is met with at all it is generally abundant, growing in clumps, the roots
of several plants all matted together, and requiring some little force to separate them. In most
flowers the calyx is green, and of smaller size than the corolla, as in the rose, buttercup, borage;
but there are numerous exceptions, thus in the present plant it is white, and the segments longer
than those of the inner ring; in the Anemone Pulsatilla, light purple; in the Delphinium Ajacis,
intensely deep and pure blue; in the Caltha palustris, brilliant yellow.
Where the petals and sepals are similar in colour and form, the term perianth is applied to
them collectively, though, as there is generally some slight difference perceptible, the term is not
always employed—one botanist describing the'parts as a perianth, another recognising corolla
and calyx. The flower of the Snow-drop is generally described as a perianth, but the Tulip flower
(fig. 14) is a still better example. In some flowers, as for instance Orchids, some one or more of
the segments, though the same in colour, differ in form from the others; such form of perianth is,


AND ORNAMENTAL TREATMENT.
7
them. Bi-symmetrical arrangements will be found most appropriate in the decoration of upright
surfaces, such as wall papers or curtains, which will always be seen one way, while multi-
symmetrical star-like forms become more suitable for floorcloth and carpet patterns, because a
star-like pattern on the floor looks equally well from all parts of the room, while a design, having
only its halves alike, must, in such a position, to some of our visitors seem upside down, while
others will see it sideways, or at various angles with its central line, and only in one position will
it be viewed to proper advantage.
We find our own views amply confirmed by the dicta of recognised authorities. Thus
Ruskin, in his remarks on symmetry, in the second volume of "Modern Painters," says—" I only
assert, respecting it, that it is necessary to the dignity of every form, and that by the removal of it,
we shall render the other elements of beauty comparatively ineffectual; though, on the other
hand, it is to be observed that it is rather a mode of arrangement of qualities than a quality itself;
hence symmetry has little power over the mind, unless all the other constituents of beauty be
found together with it A form may be symmetrical and ugly, as many Elizabethan ornaments,
yet not so ugly as it would have been if unsymmetrical, but better always by increasing degrees
of symmetry." While Wornum, in his "Analysis of Ornament," remarks—" It seems to be a
law of Nature that every individual thing shall be composed of similar parts in its outward
appearance, and, as the internal arrangement is often different, as in the animal creation, this
similarity of externals would appear an evidence of the design of beauty." It is curious to ob-
serve, in Nature, that not only are symmetrical units combined, as in the case of the Potentilla
anserina (fig. 24), or the Sambucus nigra (fig. 26), to form one symmetrical whole; but that this
general symmetry of effect may also be produced, as in the Vinca major (fig. 18), by the aggrega-
tion of parts in themselves unsymmetrical. Flowers having their disc (using the word in its
ornamental, not botanical sense,) in a horizontal plane, and, therefore, those that, like the Daisy,
Dandelion, Celandine, and most others, we look directly down upon, are generally stellate or multi-
symmetrical in character; while those which, like the Pansy (fig. 25), have their disc in a more
or less vertical plane, are ordinarily bi-symmetrical. Flowers that are multi-symmetrical in plan
are, however, generally bi-symmetrical in the side views, as shown in the Potato blossom (Solatium
tuberosum, fig. 21). The student, on consulting plate 18, may see the two principles—fig. 157
being a plan view of the plant selected, and fig. 161 an elevational view. Many other such
examples will be found scattered throughout our illustrations, and more especially at the close.
Repetition, the aggregation of similar units, is very commonly met with in ornamental art,
and it is no less common in Nature, while a slight variation, produced by the continuous repeti-
tion of two dis-similar units, in alternation with each other, is also very freely to be met with. We
see it, for example, in most of the Greek anthemion patterns, and in the almost equally character-
istic so-called egg-and-tongue moulding of that people, where two very different forms are brought
side by side, each by contrast and juxtaposition assisting the effect of the other. We see very
good natural examples in the common Avens, the Geum urbanum of systematic botany (fig. 23),
where we have alternation both of form and colour, the rounded yellow petals contrasting well
with the acutely-pointed green segments of the calyx; and, again, in fig. 26 (the Sambucus nigra,
or Elderflower) where the petaloid curves alternate with the more decided forms of the stamens:
the colours, in this instance, being clear yellow or creamy white. For ornamental examples, plate
34 may be consulted: in the upper band of fig. 283, alternation of forms is seen, and in the lower
part, repetition; while, in the leading forms of fig. 284, we see continuous repetition, the variation
being produced by alternation of colour alone
.
Repetition commends itself, apart from the pleasing art effect often produced, on the
ground of economy, both in the price paid in the first place by the manufacturer to the designer,
and, in the second place, in the facility of reproduction afterwards; we see it, therefore, largely
employed in paper-hangings, muslins, designs of all kinds produced by the agency of machinery in
any form.
The Vinca major, or Periwinkle, is not uncommonly met with in our hedgerows, where its
long trailing stems, glossy leaves, and large lilac flowers render it a rather conspicuous plant It
flowers throughout the summer. Both the Latin, Vinca, and the English name, Periwinkle, are
derived from Vincio, to bind, in allusion to its growth, as the thin straggling stems trail all over
the other herbage of the bank, and mat it together by their pressure. By old writers it is termed
Pervinke; Chaucer, for instance, thus terms it It is very doubtful, however, if the plant be
a true native. In ornamental art it appears to have been very sparingly employed, the only
instance we have met with is in a MS. of the 16th century, where, in accordance with the practice
of that period, it is represented naturally, having cast shadows, &c., on a golden ground. A plant
very similar to this, but smaller in all its parts, is known, botanically, as V. minor, the smaller Peri-
winkle; but it is not so ordinarily met with as the present species.
B


AND ORNAMENTAL TREATMENT.
9
their position on the stem. The Hedge Mustard is a very common plant on waste ground by the
wayside; the flower is very small, and unsuited to designing purposes; but the leaves are very
good in form, and might well be introduced into an ornamental composition. In the lower leaves
the terminal lobe is very large.
Fig. 32 is the stem section of the Aspidospermum excelsum, a native of British Guiana,
As we shall have occasion, in plate 5, to refer to it again, we shall for the present defer further
remark.
The remaining illustrations are given as useful examples of flower forms. The Daffodil
(Narcissus pseudo-narcissus, fig. 28) is frequently to be met with in the early spring in moist
woods and thickets, and when found at all is generally in great profusion; this, added to its
brilliancy of colour, makes it, when thus seen, a very striking and beautiful plant Wordsworth,
with his usual fidelity to Nature, and his delicate perception of her beauties, has, in these lines—
"A host of golden Daffodils
Beside the lake, beneath the trees,
Fluttering and dancing in the breeze"—
very well indicated these salient points. Though admirably adapted to the requirements of
ornamental art, and a plant very characteristic of the spring, it has been but sparingly used. The
only example we are able to quote is on a plate of Wedgwood cream-coloured ware, in the
ceramic collection at the South Kensington Museum, where the plant, though in shades of purple
colour, is very naturalistic in form and general treatment
The Corn-cockle (Agrostemma Githago) affords the very striking looking rosette seen in
fig. 29. It owes its beauty to the very elongated and decided forms of the calyx segments, alter-
nating with the petals of the corolla Though now frequently to be met with in corn fields it is
not a true native. It is one of the enemies of the agriculturist; but it has become so thoroughly
naturalised that its extirpation is now impossible. We have seen it introduced very effectively in
a Missal of the 16th century, one of the MSS. of the valuable collection in our National Museum.
The treatment, in accordance with the spirit of that period, is very naturalistic, being pictorial
rather than truly ornamental, the flower, with moths and dragon-flies, being painted in its natural
colours, on a ground of gold, upon which it throws its shadow, a mode of treatment not altogether
in harmony with the practice of the best periods of decorative art.
The flowers of the various species of Hypericum, or St John's Wort, like the flower of
the Periwinkle, that we have already noticed, are good examples of a regular, symmetrical form,
produced by units in themselves unsymmetrical. The flower of the H. Hirsutum (fig. 31) is an
illustration of this.
It will ordinarily be found that the various parts of a flower stand in a certain numerical
relation to each other; thus we frequently meet with plants in which some of the parts are in
threes, while others are in multiples of three; thus in the Iridaceee, or Iris Family, the perianth is
composed of six parts, while there are three stamens, either three stigmas or one stigma, with
three divisions, and a three-celled ovary. In other plants the parts are in fours, or multiples of
that number; thus, for example, the Holly (Ilex aquifolium) has four sepals, four petals, four
stamens, and four stigmas, while the Evening Primrose (CEnothera biennis) has the calyx four-
cleft, the petals in fours, and the stamens eight in number. A very common arrangement is that
based on the figure five; the Dianthus Armeria, for instance, has a five-toothed calyx, five petals,
and ten stamens. Arrangements in twos are not nearly so commonly met with as any of the fore-
foing; still, as we occasionally meet with such, it will be well not quite to ignore them. The
Enchanter's Nightshade (Circoea Lutetiana) is an example, as its calyx is two-cleft, the corolla
has two petals, there are two stamens, a two-lobed stigma, and a two-celled ovary.
The Corn-cockle is an illustration of the observance of this law of numerical relationship,
as it has a five-toothed calyx, a corolla of five petals, five styles, and ten stamens; while the St
John's Wort is an exception to it, as, though it has a calyx and corolla each composed of five parts,
there are only three styles, you will notice, in the centre of the flower.
Some of the exceptions to this law are very curious, when contrasted with the strict
adherence to it that may be traced in the vast majority of plants; thus the Claytonia perfoliata,
a native of Northern America, though now getting so commonly distributed over England that it
is claiming a place as of right in our Flora, has a three-cleft style, five stamens, five petals, and a
calyx of only two segments. So universal is the law, however, that exceptions as striking as
this are rarely to be met with.
Many natural floral forms are very striking, and, while interesting as variations from what
we ordinarily accept as the normal type of a flower, are also frequently of great beauty and
ornamental value. Such an one is shown in fig. 30—the flower of the Dielytra spectabilis, or


10
PLANTS: THEIR NATURAL GROWTH
Chinese-lantern plant; a plant which, whether we consider the general growth, or the beauty of
the individual parts, is admirably adapted to art purposes.
Whatever the number or arrangement of the inner parts of a flower, the outer ring is
always known, botanically, as the calyx; though, from the occasional brilliancy of its colouring,
as in the Fuchsia, it may be mistaken by beginners for the corolla. Notwithstanding this, the
large and pink part of the Dielytra is the true corolla, hence care is necessary before a decision is
arrived at as to the real nature of the floral parts. In some plants the calyx is what is termed
caducous—a term derived from the Latin word cado, I fall; when it falls away either before the
expansion of the flower, or when it has received its full development The calyx of the Dielytra
is an illustration of this; and we see others in the Scarlet Poppy (Papaver R/ueas), so commonly
to be met with in our corn fields; and in the Eschscholtzia Californica, a garden flower of a
brilliant golden yellow colour; where the scarlet or yellow parts respectively are, though ex-
ternal, petaloid; the calyx, that in most flowers is more prominent than the corolla, having, in
these cases, dropped off on the opening of the blossom. The corolla of the Dielytra is termed
gibbous (Lat gibbus, a hump), on account of its distended appearance; in the Columbine flower
(fig. 300) this is carried still further, and the flower becomes calcarate (Lat calcar, a spur). Many
other names are given to various modifications of the form of the flower; thus the flower of the
White Dead Nettle (Lamium album, fig. 35,) is termed bilabiate, literally two-lipped; others are
termed campanulate, from their resemblance to a bell, as in fig. 144; others, again, like the
Bindweed blossom, are called infundibuliform, from the Latin word infundibulum, a funnel. We
shall in passing through our illustrations find instances of many other such terms.
PLATE 4.
"II me semble qu'un des plus grands charmes de la Botanique est, apres celui de voir par soi-meme, celui de verifier ce
qu'ont vu les autres : donner sur le temoignage de mes propres yeux mon assentiment aux observations fines et justes d'un auteur
me paroit une veritable jouissance: au lieu que quand je ne trouve pas ce qu'il dit je suis toujours en inquietude si ce n'est pas moi
qui voit maL"—ROUSSEAU.
In many of the old illuminations great richness of effect is produced by having either the
central portion of a leaf of a deeper colour than the rest, or sometimes by merely a band of colour,
as, for instance, deep blue on light blue, crossing the leaf at about midway from the apex and the
insertion of the stalk. Natural illustrations of this are seen in the foliage of several of the cul-
tivated species of Pelargonium. Fig. 37 is a representation of one of these leaves, wherein a form,
already rich in its contour, is still further enriched by the band of darker colour crossing it: the
flower of the Sweet William (Dianthus barbatus, fig. 39J is another good example. All spotted,
blotched, striped or otherwise variegated leaves, as those of the Cuckoo Pint (Arum maculatum),
or spotted Persicaria (Polygonum Persicaria), are worthy of the study of the ornamentist, and will
often be found to have a suggestive value that will bear its fruit in his work.
The remaining figures are given as illustrative of the great variety of forms seen amongst
leaves; other examples will be found on the various plates; even had we devoted the whole
of our sheets to leaf forms alone, we could have given but faint idea of the enormous variety to be
met with: some being long and narrow, like those of the Firs, needle-shaped or acicular (Lat acus,
a needle); others, like the Evening Primrose (sEnothera biennis, fig. 40J, broader in proportion to
their length, and termed lanceolate, from their resemblance to a lance-head. Some, like the Snow-
berry (Symphoricarpus vulgaris), are oval in outline; others, as the Daisy (Bellis perennis, fig. 75,*,
or the London Pride (Saxifraga umbrosa), are spatulate or battledore-shaped. Such leaves as
those of the Corn Convolvulus (Convolvulus arvensis, fig. 38,1, are termed hastate, from the re-
semblance of the form to a dart (Lat hasta). When the leaf is of the character shown in fig. 43,
that of the Black Bryony (Tamus communis), it is termed cordate or heart-like, and if resembling
fig. 42, the leaf of the Coltsfoot (Tussilago farfara), it is angular. When the lobes that we see in
fig. 38 are considerably longer, and thrown more backward, the leaf becomes sagittate, or arrow-
head-shaped—the leaf of the Arrowhead (Sagittaria sagittifolia) is an excellent example. When
the leaf is broader than long, and with its basal lobes rounded, it becomes reniform or kidney-
shaped. When the stem, as in the Nasturtium or Indian Cress (Tropcsolum majus), or in the
Marsh Pennywort (Hydrocotyle vulgaris), is attached to the leaf at some distance from the
margin, a peltate or shield-like leaf is produced—(Lat pelta, a shield). Peltate leaves are ordi-
narily very simple in form, but those of the Castor Oil Plant (Ricinus communis) are a marked
exception, being very rich in character.
Though ordinarily the central line of the leaf terminates in a more or less distinctly-marked
point, it has not always this feature, as there may even be in its stead a depression, more or less


AND ORNAMENTAL TREATMENT.
ii
marked; we see this in the Box (Buxus sempervirens), and notably in the leaf of the Ginkgo
(Salisburia adiantifolia, fig. 41), where the foliage has the appearance of being cleft down the
centre—a form botanically known as bifid. You will see that, ornamentally, this gives quite a
new character. There is, perhaps, no more beautiful kind of leaf form for designing purposes
than such as the Sycamore (Acer pseudoplatanus, fig. 36,) affords a type of, where we get a central
prominent mass, and other similar forms given off laterally. The radiating character, and the
subordination of the various masses to each other, are very valuable points (if the reader covers
up the two apparently insignificant basal lobes, he will see at once how the whole form suffers),
while the toothed edge imparts further pleasant variety to the outline.
Botanically and physiologically the leaf is full of interest; but the points of greatest
practical value to the designer, and therefore those that alone now concern us, are the following :—
1—Its position on the stem. 2—Its general form as a mass. 3—The character of the outline.
4—The venation. 5—The texture. We propose, then, to take up briefly these points for con-
sideration.
A leaf may be either stalked, as that of the Apple (Pyrus Malus); or stalkless, as in the
Pimpernel (Anagallis arvensis). The leaf may entirely surround the stem, as in the perfoliate
Honeysuckle (Lonicera Caprifolium), or its basal lobes, instead of thus uniting, may be continued
down the sides of the stem. In this case the leaf is decurrent; we see instances of it in the
Comfrey (Symphytum officinale), and in several of the thistles.
Leaves may occur singly at intervals on the stalk, when they will ordinarily be found to grow
in a spiral. In the Oak (Quercus robur), for instance, only one leaf is given off at one level; and if
any one of these leaves be brought immediately opposite to the eye, the next one above it will be
found to be at an angle with us, while the next still further recedes, and it is not until we get to
the sixth leaf that we find it exactly over number one; we shall find that seven will be over two,
eight over three, and so on—five leaves thus completing one cycle. We see this special arrange-
ment also in the Pear (Pyrus communis). In some cases the spiral is much more elaborate ; while,
on the contrary, in the Meadow Saffron (Colchicum autumnale) three leaves suffice to complete one
revolution—number four then coming over number one, number five coming over two, &c.; the
simplest form of all is that termed alternate, as in the Ivy (Hedera Helix), where the third leaf
comes over the first, the fourth over the second, and so on. Sometimes leaves grow in pairs, as
in the Ground Ivy (Nepeta glechoma, fig. 155). In this case the pairs of leaves ordinarily alternate
in their direction, the second pair being at right angles to the first, and number three returning to
the direction taken by number one; a cross-like form is thus given to the foliage when seen in plan.
In some plants, however, all the pairs are placed in the same direction, so that instead of being a
cross form, when looking down on the growth, the top pair will conceal all those beneath it We see
a good instance of this in the opposite-leaved Pond-weed (Potamogeton densus). In the Gbbulea
obvallata the successive pairs of opposite leaves are arranged in a spiral, the second pair not being
in a parallel line with the first, nor at right angles with it, as we see it in the great majority of
plants, but at a slight angle, so that it is not until we arrive at the seventh pair that we find any
of its leaves coming directly over those from whence we started in our investigation. When leaves
are not opposite or alternate, they are said to be verticillate or whorled, except in the Pines and
Firs, where the leaves, being gathered together in small bundles, are said to be fascicled (Lat
fasciculus, a little bundle). The number of leaves in a whorl varies considerably, thus in the
Anacharis alsinastrum, or American Water Weed, now so rapidly spreading throughout our Eng-
lish water-courses, the leaves are in threes: in the cross-leaved Heath (Erica Tetralix) in fours;
while in the Goose-grass (Galium aparine) the whorl is composed of many more parts. It is a
law of universal force in vegetable organography that the greater the number of parts the less
regular they are; thus the opposite or two-leaved arrangements are most constant; but, when three
leaves compose the ring, a variation from the normal number is occasionally met with, while the
fluctuation is most marked when the normal number is greater. In one hundred whorls of the
Goose-grass that we counted to test this, thirteen were composed of six leaves, thirty-eight had
seven, forty-one had eight, while the remaining eight had nine. In one hundred whorls of the
great Hedge Hedstraw (Galium Mullugo) the variation was equally striking. Fourteen examples
had six leaves to the whorl, eighteen of the whorls had seven leaves, fifty had eight leaves,
seventeen had rings of nine leaves, while one whorl had ten.
The general form of the leaf, as it would tell as a mass in the design, is artistically a very
important feature. We have already described some of the simpler forms. Leaves are either
simple (figs. 55, 67, 91, 123, 169), or compound (figs. 125, 152, 173, 181); simple, when the
divisions do not pass down to the central line: compound, when they do. Compound leaves are
of two very marked types, either, in the first case, where the parts all radiate from one centre—
the Horse Chestnut leaf (figs. 311, 326) is a good example of this; or, secondly, where these
c


AND ORNAMENTAL TREATMENT.
13
round London at the time of its publication, it contains some hundreds of plates in the six
volumes of which it consists. From its rarity and great costliness, it is one of those books that
the designer will scarcely be able to secure for his own library: it is well, therefore, to know
where it may be consulted. To this we may add the Medical Botany of Woodville, and a book
with a similar title, by Stephenson and Churchill; though, like the Flora Londinensis, books of
a considerable age, they are not the less excellent The plants selected are such as have me-
dicinal value, and include both British and foreign species The illustrations have clearly been
drawn and coloured from Nature. In these three works, the plants are arranged according to
the Linnsan system—a classification of plants now given up in favour of what is termed the
Natural system; but this in no way impairs the value of the illustrations to the art-student
The third edition of Sowerby's English Botany, recently completed, is an invaluable work for
consultation. It contains a carefully-drawn and coloured figure of every British plant; but, like
the others we have mentioned, it is naturally a book rather for library reference than for
individual possession, as a work so comprehensive and elaborate must, of necessity, be high in
price. The student may also refer to Owen Jones's Grammar of Ornament, where he will find
some few plates, towards the end of the book, devoted to natural forms; and to the large
volumes of illustrations of the Natural Orders of Plants, by Elizabeth Twining. Figuier's
Vegetable World, and Coleman's Woodlands, Heaths, and Hedges, are valuable; and so, too, are
the two volumes of the illustrated edition of Bentham's British Flora, wherein wood cuts of
every British plant are given, though to a rather small scale. To these we may, perhaps, be
pardoned, if we add a work on Plant Form, by the author of the present pages, in which
numerous plants, adapted to ornamental purposes, are drawn to a large size, and analysed with a
special view to art-treatment
A few details, in conclusion, before passing to plate 5, concerning the plants partially
illustrated on the present plate.
The Sycamore (Acer pseudo platanus, fig. 36)—so called from a slight resemblance the
tree bears to the true Sycamore (Ficus SycamorusJ of the East—though not indigenous, is suffi-
ciently common for most of our readers to have frequently seen it It is one of the very few
trees in which the leaves are arranged in pairs—the Ash, Maple, and Horse Chestnut being the
other examples. The leaves of the Sycamore are often, during the autumnal months, found
covered with purplish, black, irregular blotches: a feature that the ornamentist will make a note
of as it comes under his observation. These stains are caused by Xyloma acerinum, a fungoid
growth. The flowers, green in colour, and in long, drooping clusters, appear in May; they are,
however, too small, both in their details, and even in the aggregate, to be of practical service
to the designer, though the winged fruit that succeeds them is a very suggestive and beautiful
ornamental form. We are not aware of any existing instance of the use of the Sycamore in
decorative art, though the Maple (Acer campestre), an allied species, is, as we shall see in
speaking of that plant, one of the greatest favourites of the carvers, during the Decorated period
of Gothic.
The Pelargonium, or Geranium leaf (fig. 37), is one of the numerous forms produced by
cultivation: a form so familiar to all, that we need not—having already referred to it—dwell
further upon it
Fig. 38 is the leaf of the Corn Convolvulus (Convolvulus arvensis), a very beautiful and
common plant, strewing the bank with its profusion of pink and white flowers, or twining in a
graceful spiral up the stems of the growing corn. An exceedingly beautiful plant for any light
class of design, as, for instance, muslins, damasks, or lace. An instance of its use in the art-
work of the past may be seen at the end of one of the stalls in Wells Cathedral; the leaves,
however, alone being represented. It is sometimes called the Small Bindweed, in contradistinction
to an ally, the Calystegia sepium, or Great Bindweed, the large, white Convolvulus of our hedges.
The Sweet-William (Dianthus barbalus, fig. 39), a native of Southern Europe, is a
very favourite flower in cottage gardens. The heads of blossoms show a very considerable
variety of tint; but in almost, if not quite, all, the characteristic ring of colour, either darker or
lighter than the ground, is present Many of the pinks and carnations in cultivation also show
this feature very clearly. The familiar name of the present plant does not, as one might suppose,
commemorate some rustic hero, but is a good illustration of the curious modifications that plant
names are sometimes found to undergo. Its name in France is Oeillet, a little eye, in allusion
to the pupil-like central spot seen in many of the flowers, and, the original significance being lost
in crossing the Channel, the transition to Willy, and thence to Sweet-William, was easy; as the
illiterate will always modify a word that is meaningless to them into something that, however wide
of the. mark, seems more familiar; thus the word Asparagus, originally derived from a Greek
word, signifying to tear (many of the species beine armed with sharp spines), being thus without


*4
PLANTS: THEIR NATURAL GROWTH
meaning to the costermonger, is perverted by him into Sparrowgrass, a name that is in reality
and entirely meaningless.
The Evening Primrose, or Evening Star (CEnothera biennis, fig. 40), though really a
North American plant, appears to be fully establishing itself in many parts of England. Its only
title to the name of Primrose consists in the delicate yellow of the large and fragrant flowers: it
is, in all other respects, very different to the true Primrose (Primula vulgaris). It flowers
throughout the summer and autumn, the blossoms opening in the evening. It has long been
cultivated in gardens, but it is not known at what period precisely it was introduced into Eng-
land. Parkinson, in his Garden of Pleasant Flowers, published in 1679, is the first author who
refers to it In that book it is called the Tree Primrose of Virginia. It first reached Europe
in 1619, plants in that year being sent from Virginia to Padua. The poet Barton (1784-1849)
thus alludes to it-~
"Fair flower, that shunn'st the glare of day,
Yet lov'st to open, meekly bold,
To evening's hues of sober grey
Thy cup of paly gold."
It is a highly ornamental plant, and one well worthy the regard of the ornamentist
The Ginkgo (Salisburia adiantifolia, fig. 41) is a native of China; there is a great variety
of form in the foliage, though all the forms agree in general character. It is sufficiently hardy to
stand our climate—the flourishing tree from whence this leaf was taken being in the open border
at Kew. The leaf is very similar in form to that so characteristic of the Adiantum Ferns, of
which the Adiantum Capillus- Veneris, or Maiden-hair, is a familiar species, hence the specific
name adiantifolia.
The Coltsfoot (Tussilago farfara, fig, 42) is very conspicuous from its large leaves on
most waste ground of a gravelly or clayey nature. The flowers, large and of a golden yellow,
appear in early spring before the leaves are developed. It has many synonyms in rural districts,
as, for instance, Cough-wort, from its supposed medicinal qualities; Foal's-foot, Horse-hoof, Bull's-
foot, from the shape of the leaf. A plant admirably adapted for stone-carving, though we are
unable to cite any instance of its application to decorative art.
Black Bryony (Tamus communis, fig. 43). This striking plant is not uncommon in our
hedge-rows and thickets, though it does not occur in either Scotland or Ireland. It is a doubtful
native. The flowers are greenish white: the berries that succeed them, a brilliant red. Its long
trailing stems and masses of large glossy leaves make it one of the most ornamental plants of the
hedge-row, and one every way worthy of the ornamentist's regard. It must not be confused, from
similarity of name, with the White Bryony (Bryonia dioica, fig. 90), another equally beautiful
hedge-climber, but of very different form in all ifs parts to the Black Bryony, our present plant
PLATE 6.
"The Lord is good to all; and His tender mercies are over all His works."—Psalm cxlv 9.
"Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow; they toil not, neither do they spin : and yet I say unto you, that even
Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these."—Matt, vi 28, 39.
The opening buds of spring frequently present very beautiful and 'suggestive forms: of
these the Sycamore is a very good example. Two views of the same bud are shown in figs. 48 and
59. The imbricated arrangement (Lat imbrex, a tile, overlapping like the tiles of a roof) of the
scales, and their gradual increase in size, are note-worthy points, as also the abrupt transition from
scaly to true foliate form. The Horse Chestnut bud (sEsculus Hippocastanum) affords another
very beautiful study of form and development of growth. The arrangements of young leaves
within their buds, or as it is technically termed, vernation, are often very curious. Several very
distinct varieties of arrangement are to be found; thus in the Sycamore, our present plant, the
vernation is plicate—from the Lat plica, a fold—the parts being folded together, like a closed
fan. The Vine is another instance of this plicate arrangement In Ferns, the vernation is a very
characteristic feature: it is termed circinate (Lat circinatus, rounded), the whole leaf, from
apex to base, being tightly rolled into a spiral and rounded mass. Many other such distinctive
forms of growth are recognised; but a due consideration of the space at our disposal compels us
to abstain from any further comment, lest haply, in endeavouring to exhaust our subject, we may
still more effectually succeed in exhausting our readers. Scales are rudimentary leaves: we may,
therefore, in the Sycamore, as in most other plants, meet with transitional forms. The function
pf the scales is to protect the tender bud during the cold of winter, hence the plants of cold


AND ORNAMENTAL TREATMENT.
15
regions are generally thus provided for, while in tropical plants the development of scales is
altogether exceptional. Upon the evolution of the bud, the protective work of the scale is at an
end; it is, therefore, thrown off, leaving a scar upon the stem, a memorial of its former existence.
In the Lilac (Syringa vulgaris) the transition from rudimentary scale to normal leaf form
is more gradually marked: fig. 50 is the natural growth of a young Lilac shoot: figs. 51, 52, 53,
54, 55, showing the forms detached, as the gradation is thus more readily traced.
We have already, in referring to plate 3, pointed out the difference in form that may
frequently be traced between the earliest leaves of a seedling, and all those that succeed them.
Of this the Sunflower (fig. 27) afforded an example; while, in the present plate, we see the same
ornamental feature again illustrated in the Radish (Raphanus sativus). We also, in our remarks
on that plate, pointed out the great variety of form that in some plants is seen in their normal
leaves, according to their position on the plant, illustrating our observations by a reference to the
forms seen in the Hedge Mustard. The Shepherd's Purse, an equally common plant (figs. 62, 63),
is an equally good example, the larger and more richly-cut leaf being one of the lower leaves,
while the form of simpler character is one of the higher leaves of the flowering stem.
Throughout the whole range of ornamental art the use of geometry is a principle of con-
tinuous recurrence. In many periods of art, as in the English and Italian Gothic of the 13th
century, its use is eminently characteristic. One of our great authorities on matters connected
with design has laid down this law,—"All ornament should be based on a geometrical construc-
tion ;" and, though at first sight we feel inclined to doubt whether all should be thus bound by so
rigid a law, we shall, nevertheless, on consideration and investigation of various examples of
ornamental art, be quite prepared to admit the charm that a geometric basis is able to impart to
an even otherwise poor design, and to recognise the enhanced beauty that it gives in all cases.
Nature affords us many examples of geometrical forms, more especially in the open
blossoms of most plants, and perhaps no less so—though it is not at first sight so obvious—in
the sections of stems. The circle, the simplest geometrical form, is that most commonly found;
we see it in the stems of grasses, the Elder (Sambucus nigra), the Ash (Xraxinus Excelsior), and
many others. The triangle is the typical sectional form of the stems of water plants, as, one angle
being presented to the direct action of the flowing stream, it is the form most suited to ensure
the necessary stability, acting, as it does, like the prow of a boat, or the triangular pier of a bridge,
in diverting the direct force of the current We see the triangular section very well shown in the
Sedges (Carex vulpina, fig. 56), for example: plants that, growing in the bed of the stream, are
exposed to the full power of the water; and again in the Alisma plantago, or Water Plantain
(fig. 5 7), where the forms are much rounder, as this plant does not grow in the open stream, but
fringes its banks, and has not, therefore, so great a pressure to sustain. The contrast between
the two triangular forms, each so admirably adapted to the special circumstances of the plant's
existence, is, we think, a very striking illustration of that great law of adaptation so frequently
to be traced in the works of Nature. The form of the cross section of the stem of the Papyrus
(Papyrus antiquoram) is identical with that of the Alisma. Several of the Labiate family have
stems based on a square: such a form is seen in the Lamium album—the White Archangel, or
White Dead-nettle—fig. 61. We see another modification of it in the stem of the Stinging Nettle
(Urtica dioica), and of the square-stalked St John's Wort (Hypericum quadrangulum); while
more complex polygonal forms are met with in the pentagonal stems of the Meadow Sweet
(Spirosa Ulmaria, fig. 53), or the Stapelia hystrix (fig. 1), and in the hexagonal stems of the
Balsam (Impatiens noli-me-tangere, fig. 49), or the Hop (Humulus lupulus). A still greater rich-
ness of form is seen on cutting across the deeply-furrowed and fluted stems of many of the
Umbelliferce, as the Wild Carrot (Daucus Carota), or the Fool's Parsley (Aithusa Cynapium).
A very curious stem section is figured on plate 3—that of the Aspidospermum excelsum, a native
of British Guiana. Several very remarkable sections of this may be seen in the botanical
collection of the British Museum. Though so extraordinary in form, a parallel on a smaller
scale might almost be found in the stem of the common Maple (Acer campestre), the bark being
exceedingly rough, and full of deep and irregular fissures. Fig. 16, and the remaining illustrations
on plate 5, are geometric shaft sections of varying degrees of richness, from the Cathedrals or other
buildings named beneath each example.
n


i6
PLANTS: THEIR NATURAL GROWTH
PLATE 6.
"The great business of study is to form a mind adapted, and adequate, to all times and all occasions ; to which all Nature
is then laid open, and which may be said to possess the key to her inexhaustible riches."—Sir Joshua Reynolds, Discourse XI.
The first figure on this plate is the highly ornamental leaf of the greater Knapweed
(Centaurea scabiosa). As the plant is represented in its natural growth at fig. 247, we shall
defer further comment until then; the leaf is merely detached from want of space for it on plate
30, as it is one of the large lower leaves of that plant
Fig. 67, the leaf of the Corn Marigold (Chrysanthemum segetum), is very ornamental in
character; the whole plant is well worthy of the ornamentist's consideration. Its large yellow
flowers render it a conspicuous object; it is found, together with the Blue Cornflower (Centaurea
Cyanus) and the Scarlet Poppy (Papaver Rhceas), in the ripening wheat, and is, like those, one of
the characteristic plants of autumn.
Figs. 69, 70, 71, 72, the leaves of the Ivy-leaved Speedwell (Veronica hederifolia), have
been already referred to in our remarks on the variation of form often seen in the leaves of the
same plant
Though the great majority of leaves are bi-symmetrical in form, we occasionally meet
with examples wanting in this symmetrical character; the leaf of the Elm ( Ulmus campestris) is
a familiar example of this. We see it still more clearly in the various species of Begonia—as in
fig. 68, the leaf of the B. suffruticosa, and in fig. 76, that of B. Wetoniensis. In this family the
difference of size between the portions on either side of the main rib is very marked indeed. In
speaking botanically of leaves being bi-symmetrical, we disregard any minor variations, or slight
deviation in the dimensions, the word being used in a general sense, and not as implying
geometrical accuracy: since, in almost every leaf, though practically it may be said to be bi-
symmetrical, small differences of form will be easily detected in comparing one half with the other.
Where leaves are unsymmetrical, it will always be found that they are arranged alternately on the
stem: no instance is know of inequilateral leaves being arranged in an opposite manner on the
stem; hence this would seem to prove, in the words of De Candolle, " That this inequality ought
to be referred to the position of the leaf upon the plant favouring the development of one of its
sides more than the other, and in this case it is always the lowest which is developed most" This
law is still more evident in the leaflets of pinnate leaves; when they are unequal, as is ordinarily
the case, the lower part is always that most developed. We see this in the leaflets of the Knap-
weed, on the present plate. Figs. 152, 173, 258, are also good examples. In palmate leaves,
leaves of a radiate character, like those of the Horse Chestnut, when the lateral leaflets, though
forming part of a symmetrical whole, are not, in themselves, symmetrical, the larger portion will
always be on the external side—that part furthest removed from the general central line of the
leaf. Not only do leaves, when viewed individually, present ordinarily a general symmetry of
form, but also a due symmetry in regard to their position on the stem in connection with other
leaves; thus, with scarcely an exception, all leaves that spring from the same level are of equal
size: they are, at least, normally so, though accidents of growth may have disturbed this natural
symmetry. We see this very clearly in the Ground Ivy (Nepeta glechoma, fig. 153), or the
Meadow Crane's-bill (Geranium pratense, fig. 184). A very curious instance of this law of
symmetry and the due balance of parts is seen in the Rucllia anisophylla, where the leaves, though
growing in pairs, are not equal, one being very small and narrow as compared with the other;
yet, on comparing successive pairs, the small leaf of the pair is found to occur alternately, first on
the left side, then on the right In the Deadly Nightshade or Dwale (Atropa Belladona) the
leaves, though in pairs, are of very unequal size, one of each two being always much larger than
the other, as may be seen by reference to fig. 271. In fig. 339 we have a design based on this
curious and abnormal growth. When leaves are in whorls, or verticillate in arrangement, all the
leaves composing a whorl are ordinarily of the same size: occasionally, however, they vary from
large to small, placed alternately.
The leaf of the Daisy (Bellis perennis, fig. 74) has already been referred to in speaking of
the various foliate forms, as an example of the spatulate type; while the Harebell leaf (Campanula
rotundifolia, fig. 75) is a type of the rounded leaf. We may also cite it as a further instance of
the variety of leaf form to be sometimes found on one plant, as the lower leaves alone are of
this character, the upper ones being thin and strap-shaped. The plant as a whole is admirably
adapted for employment in design, its delicate growth and graceful bell-shaped flowers being
features of great beauty and adaptability to art-work.
The leaves of the various species of Sarracenia are curious examples of the very abnormal
forms sometimes assumed. The variation of colour in these is very striking In the Drum-
mondii the lower portion is light green, gradually merging into pure white, and on this, as a ground,


i8
PLANTS: THEIR NATURAL GROWTH
83, given a plan view of the expanded flower of the Malva Sylvestris, an allied species, and one
more commonly met with; the flowers are of a reddish purple, and the leaves very similar to the
lower ones (fig. 85) of the Musk Mallow: it has not, however, as a whole, the richness of form and
ornamental detail that we find in our present plant The Musk Mallow is not unfrequently
met with on hedge-banks, in pastures, and by road-sides, and more especially where the soil is of
gravel or chalk; it will be found in flower during July, August, and September. It derives its
name of musk in allusion to a slight musky odour that is perceptible when the plant is drawn
through the hand. The various species of Mallow have long been held in repute for their
medicinal qualities, being emollient in their nature, a feature not peculiar to our English species
alone, but to the whole family, some six hundred in number. The Malvacece form a considerable
proportion in tropical vegetation, and all the species are thus mucilaginous in their nature, and
entirely without deleterious properties. They have also valuable economic use, the various species
of Gossypium (the cotton plants) being members, amongst many others of less conspicuous com-
mercial utility, of this family. The Holyhock (Althea rosea) a familiar garden plant, is also a
Mallow. The ring of bracts, three in number, beneath the true calyx, is characteristic of the whole
of our British species of Malva. It is clearly shown in fig. 79. The Musk Mallow yields an
excellent fibre after maceration, and several attempts have been made to introduce it in the
manufacture of paper, cordage, &c. Good as it is however, other plants, as the Hemp and Flax,
are still better, and it has consequently never come into practical use. The technical name, Malva,
like the familiar English name, Mallow, refers to the soothing nature of the plant, being derived
from a Greek word signifying to make soft
We are unable to give any instances of the use of the plant in the ornament of the past;
possibly the fact of its not being so very common as many other plants may, in part at least,
account for this, as it seems to us that, its beauties once perceived, it should be gladly hailed by
the follower of ornamental art We have, in fig. 80, a patera form, based on a flower of five petals;
but the resemblance to our Mallow is not sufficiently close to justify us in claiming it as an art-
adaptation of that flower. Fig. 84, though more like it, has the unit six times repeated, instead
of five times, as we see it in the petals of the natural flower. Though unable to cite either of
these ornamental forms as being actually derived from the Mallow, they are at least suggestive,
and on this ground we feel justified in introducing them. Both examples are from tiles dug up
in the ruins of Chertsey Abbey, Surrey: the originals may be seen in the South Kensington
Museum. Many of the Chertsey tiles are very interesting, and give very excellent renderings of
our native plants, as in fig. 157; the Maple, Ground Ivy, and other plants being shown with
sufficient truth to render them pleasing, and yet in due subordination to ornamental requirements.
Besides the collection at South Kensington, other examples may be seen at the British Museum.
PLATE 8.
"Do not depreciate any pursuit which leads men to contemplate the works of their Creator! The Linnean traveller who,
when you look over the pages of his journal, seems to you a mere botanist, has in his pursuit an object that occupies his time, and
fills his mind, and satisfies his heart Nor is the pleasure which he partakes in investigating the structure of a plant less pure, or
less worthy, than what you derive from perusing the noblest productions of human genius."—SOUTHEY.
The White Bryony, or White Hedge-Vine (Bryonia dioica), is one of our commoner
English plants, though it is but sparingly met with in the northern counties and in Wales, and
not at all in Scotland or Ireland. It must be sought in the hedge-row or copse, where it may be
found covering large expanses of hedge and bush with its long trailing stems and masses of large
leaves. The flowers, from their small size and green colour, are not conspicuous features; but
the bright berries that succeed them—first orange, then of deep scarlet—attract the eye more
readily, as the plant hangs in graceful festoons from point to point The generic name, Bryonia, is
derived from a Greek word signifying to shoot or grow rapidly, in allusion to the rapid growth of
the plant; while the specific name, dioica, refers to its dioecious nature. In most plants we find
the male, or staminoid parts, and the female, or pistilloid parts, placed together in each blossom;
but in some cases some of the flowers on a plant are wholly pistilliferous, while others are
exclusively staminiferous; while a further modification is seen in such plants as the present, where
all the blossoms of , one plant are pistil-bearing, and all the blossoms of another plant stamen-
bearing. These plants are called dioecious. It is only on the plants bearing fertile or pistillate
flowers that the fruit is formed. The leaves, ordinarily with five lobes but occasionally with
seven, are very rough in texture. The whole plant possesses dangerous properties, and, though
long classed amongst medicinal herbs, is, from the violence and uncertainty of its action, now
discarded.


AND ORNAMENTAL TREATMENT.
19
The plant is, from the freedom of its growth, its large and handsome leaves, and long
waving tendrils, one eminently adapted to art purposes. In fig. 92 we have a conventional
treatment of it from an early 14th century MS., in the British Museum—" Le live de la Chasse,"
by Gaston Phebus, Comte de Foix. The berries, tendrils, and leaves are all well introduced in a
carving, filling a hollow moulding, Rouen Cathedral. We find it again in the carving beneath
a bracket (14th century period) in Hawton Church, Nottinghamshire: this is an especially
beautiful example; also round a small capital in the same church. A very good treatment of it
again in a capital (decorated period) at Guisborough Abbey, Yorkshire. Holbein has introduced
the plant in two of his pictures—one a portrait of Sir Henry Dudley; the other, of John Res-
kinner: both pictures are in the Royal collection at Windsor. We have ourselves endeavoured
to embody something of the spirit of the plant in the two designs marked 94 and 95 respectively—
the first being for flat decoration, the second for work in relief; while, in the lower figure on plate
39 (%. 319), we have a very beautiful mediaeval rendering of it from Southwell Minster.
It will be understood that figs. 87, 88, and 93, are enlarged views of the parts represented;
their natural size is shown in fig. 89.
The inflorescence of plants is a feature not to be neglected by the ornamentist Inflorescence
is a term used to express the arrangement of the flowers (from the Lat infloresco, I begin to
blossom), and is equivalent in meaning to the term modus Jlorendi, or manner of flowering, used
by the earlier botanists. If we examine such flowers as the Dwale (Atropa Belladonna, fig. 274),
the trailing Periwinkle (Vinca major), the large Hedge Convolvulus (Calystegia septum), or the
Broom (Sarothamnus scoparius, fig. 97), we find single flowers given off at more or less regular
intervals from the axils of the leaves, and the shoot continuing its length indefinitely. Plants
having this growth are said to have their flowers solitary or axillary. Single flowers are said to
be terminal when at the summit of a stem, as in fig. 9, the Snowdrop (Galanthus nivalis), or the
Coltsfoot (Tussilago Farfara). In some plants, especially in those having erect stems, the central
axis terminates with the inflorescence; the intervals between the flowers are small, and the
floral leaves (bracts), by their rapid diminution in size, give to the whole a tapering form. If the
individual blossoms have no stalks (pedicels), but are attached at once to the central stem, this
form of flowering is called a spike; but if the blossoms thrown off from the central axis have
stalks, it is called a raceme. The flowers of the spike may be very close together, as in the
Plantain (Plantago major), or at some considerable interval, as in the Agrimonia Eupatorium, or
Herb Agrimony (fig. 249), or again in the Plantago sparsifolia; very frequently the lower ones are
much further apart than the upper, as in the Yellow Rattle (Rhinanthus crista-galli, fig. 233).
The flowers composing the spike may be in pairs: or whorls, as in Myridphyllum verticillatum,
the Whorled Water Milfoil; singly, in a line, one over the other, all being thus on one side only
of the floral axis, as in Spartina stricta; or singly, with a spiral arrangement, as in the Vervain
( Verbena officinalis). All these features, though found in one form of inflorescence, the spicate,
are worthy of consideration, as, ornamentally, these modifications each give a different character
and effect
A raceme, as we have seen, resembles a spike, except that the flowers are on pedicels, and
these pedicels, to make the inflorescence truly racemose, must be all of nearly equal length; Vicia
sepium, the Bush Vetch (fig. 129), the Mignonette (Reseda odorata), or the Red Currant (Rides
rubrum) are examples. If, instead of being of nearly equal length, the lower pedicels are very
much longer than the others, so as to bring the flowers approximately to one level, thus forming a
more or less flat-topped mass of blossoms, the resulting form is called a corymb; the inflorescence
of the Bryony (fig. 89) is corymbose. We see it also in the Goldilocks (Linosyris vulgaris), the
Ploughman's Spikenard (Inula Conyza), the Groundsel (Senecio vulgaris), and many other plants.
Another modification of racemose flowering is seen in what is termed the panicle—it is practically
a compound raceme—where the pedicels are themselves again branched, instead of each support-
ing but one blossom. The paniculate form is very characteristic of grasses: the Oat (Avena
sativa), is a good and easily accessible example of it We see it, too, in the Yellow Bedstraw
(Galium verum), the Sycamore (Acer pseudo-platanus), the Butterbur (Tussilago Petasites), and
numerous other plants. When this paniculate form presents a very dense head of flowers, it is
sometimes called a thyrsus, as in the Privet (Ligustrum vulgare), or Horse' Chestnut (Aisulus
Hippocastanum ).
The umbel is a very characteristic form of inflorescence: it is produced by all the pedicels
springing from one point, whence they radiate like a fan, or the ribs of an umbrella Umbellate
inflorescence is seen in the Cherry (Cerasus communis), the Celandine (Chelidonium majus, fig.
148), or the Flowering Rush (Butomus umbellatus). The umbel is called compound when each
ray of the primary umbel itself terminates in an umbel, as in the Fennel (Fozniculum vulgare), the
Hemlock (Conium maculatum), and many other plants.
E


20
PLANTS: THEIR NATURAL GROWTH
In some cases the upright growth of the central axis is suddenly terminated, when a flat
(Marigold, Chrysanthemum segetum), concave (Fig, Ficus carica), or convex (Teasel, Dipsacus
sylvestris), cushion-like head is formed, and on this a number of sessile flowers are congregated,
as in the plants just mentioned; or, as in the Leopard's Bane (Doronicum pardalianches, fig. 193),
the Aster Alpinum (fig. 296), the Daisy (Bellis perennis), or the Dandelion (Taraxacum dens-
leonis). It will be noticed, therefore, that what we should, as ornamentists, term the flower of the
Daisy, is really an aggregation of very many flowers into one head. This form of inflorescence is
termed the capitulum.
There are several other forms, as the cyme, amentum, spadix, and fascicle, and also
modifications of those already described; thus it is not uncommon to find a floral axis racemose
at the base, and spicate above: or, in other cases, spicate in the early part of its existence, and
becoming racemose as it becomes more developed; but however interesting physiologically, we
need not now, for our present purpose, dwell upon them, since the type forms of inflorescence
mentioned are those that will most readily lend themselves to the requirements of ornamental art
Any of our readers desirous of further information on these points can at once acquire it by
turning to any manual of descriptive botany.
The tendrils of the Bryony are a beautiful feature, though, from their lightness of form,
they become features of greater beauty in surface decoration (see fig. 131) than it is possible to
make them in relief work.
Tendrils (Lat teneo, to hold) are, botanically, and with a view to ornamental treatment, of
various kinds; thus the Bryony and the Passion Flower throw them out from the stem, while in
the Everlasting Pea (fig. 163) they spring from the end of the leaf petiole: they are sometimes
single, at other times branched. The upper leaflets of a pinnate leaf are sometimes converted
into tendrils : we see this very well exemplified in the Pea already referred to. In the Strophan-
thus hispidus, of Sierra Leone, each lobe of the five divisions of the corolla is prolonged into a
filament of some seven inches in length, serving all the purposes of a true tendril. Tendrils are
only met with in a fully-developed form in plants of a soft and flexible nature; thus those plants
—belonging to the Viciece, Passiflorece, and many other groups—that have weak stems have well-
developed tendrils: while in other and stronger plants in the same orders, we find that they are
rudimentary or altogether absent Tendril-bearing plants, being dependent upon others for their
support, are naturally found either in forests, as in many fine tropical examples; or amongst
thickets and hedges, as in the case of the Meadow Vetchling (Lathyrus pratensis); or the Bush
Vetch ( Vicia sepium, fig. 124).
The twisting of tendrils or twining stems is based on a rigid law, and always has the same
direction in the same species. In the French Bean (Phaseolus vulgaris), or large Garden Con-
volvulus (Ipomcea purpurea), for example, the spiral always ascends to the left; while in the Hop
( Humulus Lupulus) it is always from left to right It may, at first sight, seem difficult to verify
this, but if the reader will imagine the plant in question to be turning round his own body he will
at once be able to determine whether the plant, in ascending, would cross in front of him from
right to left, or the reverse. The Bryony presents a peculiarity which, so far as we are aware, is
exclusively its own; the tendrils suddenly, in the middle of their course, change their direction,
the upper half twining in a contrary direction to the lower.
The means of support employed by climbing plants are very varied. In many cases the
main stem twines and gives the needed support—the Corn Convolvulus (Convolvulus arvensis) is
an illustration of this mode of growth; at other times, as in the Ivy (Hedera Helix), root-like
processes are thrown out from the stems, and by their grasp and powers of penetration into the
hollows of brick or storte-work, or the rugged tree-bark, amply suffice to sustain the plant The
Goose-grass (Galium Aparine) clings by means of the small hook-like appendages with which the
stems and undersides of the leaves are furnished. In the Plectocomia elongata, one of the tallest
species of Palms, the stem is so slender that it needs the support of others stronger than itself; to
obtain this, the long pinnate leaves terminate in a series of recurved hooks or spines, of complex
form and immense strength ; and by these the plant, thrusting its leaves upwards (each leaf being
some thirty feet long) amongst the branches of the surrounding trees, secures itself perfectly. In
some plants the leaf-stems twine round any suitable object—the Garden Canariensis (Tropceolum
peregrinum) is a very beautiful illustration of this; while in other instances, as in the Dodder
(Cuscuta Europcea), little tubercles are developed, which, becoming hollow underneath, act as
suckers by the vacuum produced. So great then is the diversity of means for attaining the same
end, so marked the variety of operation in working out the same problem—a good illustration of
the wealth of resource to be seen in the works of Nature, and a lesson not without value to those
who would endeavour to base their art on natural beauty.


AND ORNAMENTAL TREATMENT.
23
triacantnos), where not only does the central spine throw out lateral points, but these in turn have
smaller spines on them. In some foreign plants the petioles, on the fall of the leaves, harden and
become true spines: they are, from their original nature and function, always of simple form. In
some few cases leaflets are entirely or partially abortive, and a spine with lateral branches takes
their place. The leaf may be spinescent by the hardening of the central nerve, as in the Yucca
gloriosa; or by the prolongation into spines of the nerves of the lateral lobes, as in the Thistles.
The sharp points of the Holly (I lax Aquifolium) are also good examples of these foliary spines.
The rudimentary leaf-forms, botanically termed bracts or scales, may, as we see in fig. 102, present
similar features. In the Alyssum Spinosum the flower stems, on the fall of the blossoms, become
hardened into veritable spines: while even the parts of the flower themselves, fugacious as they
ordinarily are, are in some examples found to present spinous forms; thus in some species of
Stachys the calyx is spiny: while in Cuviera the petals develop a thorn-like point As all the
organs of plants, with the exception of the root and seed, are thus capable of being transformed
into spinous processes, these spines must be considered rather as a particular development of
vegetable growth, than as true organs themselves.
Though the terms thorn, spine, or prickle are frequently used synonymously, it is more
correct to limit the use of the first two to the developments above mentioned, reserving the term
prickle for those forms which do not result from the induration of any of the organs of the plant,
but are rather of the nature of hairs, differing from them only in being stronger, harder, and of
modified form; prickles, therefore, are usually found upon stems or leaves. A prickle being, as
we have seen, but a modified hair, is superficial, and can easily be removed, leaving but a surface
scar, as in the Dog Rose (Rosa canina); while a thorn, being a modification of some organic body,
is intimately connected with the internal structure, and can only be removed by actual force and
rupture of the parts.
PLATE 11,
"God made the flowers to beautify
The earth, and cheer man's careful mood,
And he is happier who has power
To gather wisdom from a flower,
And wake his heart in every hour
To pleasant gratitude."—Wordsworth.
The brilliant Crocus luteus is one of our favourite cultivated species of Crocus, its brilliant
perianth rendering it a very valuable acquisition at a time when there are but few flowers, and
those of but pale tint—the delicate white of the Snowdrop—the sulphur yellow of the Primrose.
Either the present flower, or an allied and very similar species, was introduced into our gardens
during the reign of Elizabeth; for we find in the description of a Crocus, in the writings of
Gerarde, a famous herbalist of that period, that he says—" That pleasant plant, that bringeth
forth yellow flowers, was sent unto me from Robinus of Paris." Gerarde was a great lover of rare
plants, and had exceptionally good opportunity of acquiring them, as he was the curator of the
very fine botanical garden of Lord Burlegh. He wrote a "Catalogue of Trees, Fruits, and
Plants," dedicating the first edition (a.d. 1596) to his patron Burlegh, and a second, in 1599, to
Sir Walter Raleigh. His prefatory remarks, though quaint in expression, are also so full of genuine
appreciation of Nature, that we make no apology for making a quotation from them. He com-
mences as follows :—" Any the manifold creatures of God (right honourable, and my singular
good lord) that have all in all ages diuersly entertained many excellent wits, and drawn them to
the contemplation of the Diuine wisdome, none have prouoked men's studies more, or satisfied
their desires so much as plants haue done, and that upon just and worthy causes; for, if delight
may prouoke men's labour, what greater delight is there than to behold the earth apparelled with
plants as with a robe of embroidered worke, set with Orient pearles, and garnished with great
diuersitie of rare and costly jewels? If this varietie and perfection of colours may effect the eie,
it is such in herbes and flowers, that no Apelles, no Zeuxis ever could, by any art, expresse the like;
if odours or if taste may worke satisfaction, they are both so soueraigne in plants, and so com-
fortable, that no confection of the Apothecaries can equall their excellent vertue. But these
delights are in the outward senses : the principal delight is in the mind, singularly enriched with
the knowledge of these uisible things, setting forth to vs the inuisible wisdome and admirable
workmanship of almighty God. The delight is great, but the vse greater, and ioyned often with
necessitie. In the first ages of the world they were the ordinary meate of men, and have con-
tinued euer since of necessary vse, both for meates to maintaine life, and for medicine to recover
health."
F


24
PLANTS: THEIR NATURAL GROWTH
The generic name Crocus was bestowed upon these plants by Linnaeus. Its significance
seems not quite clear, as by one writer it is derived from the Greek word for filament or thread,
an allusion to the appearance of the stigmas of one of the species (C. Sativus), when dried
to form the saffron of commerce; another finds in mythical story an explanation of the name
in the ardent passion of Crocus for the fair Smilax, an ardency that consumed him, and
led to his metamorphosis into the plant that still bears his name; while a third derives it from
Coriscus, a mountain of Cilicia. This suggestion bears a certain amount of probability, from
the facts that, in the first place, the Crocus really is a native of the South-Eastern Medi-
terranean region: and, secondly, that Pliny, in his writings, expressly informs us that the best
saffron was the Cilician. Of the three suggested derivations, however—the commercial, the
mythological, and the geographical—the first seems most probable, as the Crocus has, from the
earliest times, been cultivated for its commercial value. Saffron is mentioned by the earliest
Greek writers; while in the East it has been held in great esteem from time immemorial for its
supposed medicinal virtues. Its Arabic name zaha/eran, is the parent of our English name
saffron, of the French, Danish, and Swedish saffran, the Italian safferano, the Spanish azafran,
the German safran-planze, the Russian shajrann, the Dutch saffraan, the Hindostanee zaifran,
and the Malay safaron. This remarkable similarity of name clearly points to its importation into
Europe from the East: while the Arabic name itself is derived from the adjective ssafra, yellow.
The bulbs were introduced into England in the reign of Edward III. Throughout the middle
ages, saffron was held in great favour as a cordial; the old writers, to mark their sense of its
value, called it Aurum Philosophorum, Sanguis Herculis, Aurum Vegetabile, Rex Vegetabilium,
and Panacea Vegetabilis; but its use in more modern times has been very limited, and it is now
but little employed, except for its aromatic qualities and power of imparting a rich colouring—
properties that render it useful sometimes for disguising unpalatable medicinal preparations.
In the preparation of saffron the stigmas and a small portion of the style are the parts
employed. After being carefully gathered, they are dried by artificial heat, and then form narrow
shreds of about an inch in length, and of a reddish brown colour: this is technically called hay
saffron. The space and labour required to produce even a small quantity render it very costly,
as the stigmata of about seventy thousand flowers must be carefully picked by hand for each
pound weight of saffron produced.
Besides the very numerous garden Crocuses, we have two or three English species. The
Purple Spring Crocus (C. Vernus), though not truly indigenous, has so completely naturalised
itself in various localities in England and Ireland that it now occupies a recognised place in our
Flora. The Naked Crocus (C. Nudijlorus), though a native of Southern Europe, has naturalised
itself in the neighbourhood of Nottingham, Derby, Warwick, and Halifax, and, like the Spring
Crocus, may justly claim a place amongst our British plants. The purple flowers appear in the
Autumn, after its leaves have withered away: a curious feature that the ornamentist may at some
time find of value; other such examples may be seen in the Coltsfoot ( Tussilago Farfara) and
the Almond (Amygdalus communis); but in these instances matters are reversed, the flowers
preceding, not succeeding, the leaves. In addition to these, the following are occasionally met
with, though, as in every case they have been outcasts from gardens, they have as yet failed to
make good their claim to recognition as truly wild plants. The C. Mitiimus: this species,
cultivated in gardens under the name of the Scotch Crocus, has, for more than half a century,
sprung up in Barton Park, near Bury St Edmunds. The C. Aureus, a rich golden-yellow
flowered species, and a very similar plant to that of our plate, may at times be found; it was at
one time cultivated for saffron, hence its occasional occurrence. It is dedicated by the Roman
Catholic Church to St Valentine, a saint whose name at least is better known than those of many
of his comrades of the calendar. Homer, in the fourth book of the Iliad—struck by the brilliancy
of its tint, as it spread over the hills one mass of colour, like the beautiful expanse of purple heath
clothing our own mountains and moors—thus refers to it in his description of the couch of Jove
and his consort Juno :—
"And sudden Hyacinths the turf bestrew,
While flowering Crocus made the mountain glow."
The true Saffron Crocus is still cultivated in the neighbourhood of Saffron Walden, in Essex ; but
it has no claim to be considered a British plant
It is, we feel, superfluous to point out the beauty of the plant we have selected as a
representative Crocus, its strikingly ornamental forms are too apparent to need any eulogy of
ours: it is itself ^its own ample commendation. We may, however, mention, by way of bare
elucidation, that, while in fig. 108 we have the natural growth of the plant as a whole, the remain-
ing detached figures give us details of what are ornamentally the more important parts. These


AND ORNAMENTAL TREATMENT. 25
details are as follows:—Figs. 105, 106, side views of the flower: in the first case the sepaloid
segment of the perianth being the central mass: in the second, the petaloid. It will be noticed
that the outer or sepaloid segments have a conspicuous series of striped markings upon them, the
inner segments being nearly, but not quite, free from them : this is seen more clearly in fig. 111,
Fig. 107 is the graceful form of the bud. Fig. 112, the bulb. The remaining views are plans, fig.
109, showing the opening bud; fig. 110, the form taken by the flower when incipient decay causes
the curling over of the parts; while in fig. 111 we have an exterior or underneath view of the
flower at its fullest expansion.
PLATE 12.
"The rough burr-thistle, spreading wide
Among the bearded bear,
I turn'd the weeder-chips aside,
And spared the symbol dear."—Burns.
"Then cullet she all flowers that on field,
Discerning all their fashions and effeirs;
Upon the awful Thistle she beheld
And saw him kippit with a bush of spears;
Considering him so able with the weirs,
A radius crown of rubies she him gave,
And said,-^-'In field go forth, and fend the lave.'"
—Dunbar: the " Thrissill and the Rois.n
The Spear Plum Thistle (Carduus lanceolatus) is one of our most ornamental species. It
grows abundantly in Britain, and may be met with ordinarily by our hedge-sides, where its height
and numerous heads of large purple flowers render it a very conspicuous plant The stem is
winged, as it is botanically termed, by the prolongation of the leaf forms down the stem; and the
leaves have numerous lobes, each being terminated by a sharp prickle. The bracts surrounding
the flower-head are simple in form, not branched, as in the C. Marianus, with a lateral fringing
of points. The plant is found in flower throughout the whole Summer. The Thistle has been
largely employed in ornamental art: in some cases clearly for its own inherent beauty: in others
as clearly from its historic and heraldic associations. A very beautiful example of it may be seen
in a square panel in the Cathedral of Bruges, and again in a moulding on the tomb of Don
Juan II., in that building; a good crocket at Evreux; a bracket at Sens; an especially beautiful
running moulding at Miraflores; numerous wooden panels (Gothic carving) in the South Kensing-
ton Museum; on the monument of Mary Queen of Scots, in Westminster Abbey; examples at
Stirling Castle, Linlithgow, and Holyrood. The Thistle, we need scarcely say, has been adopted
as the badge of Scotland; but great uncertainty seems to exist, both as to what species may be
considered the true heraldic Thistle, or on what ground it was originally chosen as the national
emblem. The Thistles found sculptured on monuments are too conventional in character to
afford any clue to the natural species from which we may assume they were originally derived;
hence a wide field has been opened for antiquarian speculation. Some authorities are prepared
to accept the present species as most deserving of the honour; others prefer to advocate the
claims of the Milk Thistle, or of the Onopordum acanthium. Neither of these latter, it appears
to us, can however be accepted, as there is so much doubt of their being indigenous species; while
they share with the present plant the disadvantage of being much too large, as, if any value can
be attached to the legendary history of the subject, it must be some low-growing species like the
C. Acaulis that has most claim. In one chronicle we are told that Queen Scota, a mythical
sovereign, whose name is not to be found in any chronological record, after a grand review of her
troops, while resting on the turf was pricked by a Thistle, and from this circumstance she adopted
it, with the motto, "Nemo me impune lacessif '—no one with impunity injures me—as the badge of
her country. Another historian says that during a night attack of the Danes, one of the enemy
treading on a Thistle cried out, and thus gave timely warning to the Scots of their near approach,
and that, in gratitude for this, the Thistle was chosen as the national emblem. If either of these
legends be accepted, it is clear that the C. Acaulis has most right to our recognition; but Sir
Harris Nicholas, in his " History of the Orders of Knighthood," shows that so far from the Thistle
being assumed as a badge at any such early period as either of these legends would infer, it is not
alluded to in any way as an emblematic object until the reign of James III., when we find it
referred to in an inventory of the property of that monarch at his death, in 1458—" a covering of
variand purpir tarter browdin, with thrissils and a unicorn," the unicorn being another emblem of
Scotland. It was, beyond doubt, a national badge in 1503, as in that year Dunbar wrote a poetic


26
PLANTS: THEIR NATURAL GROWTH
allegory, entitled the "Thrissill and the Rois," on the union of James IV. and the Princess
Margaret of England. The expressive motto was not added until 1579; it first appears on the
coinage of James VI., where it surrounds the Thistle that occupies the centre of the coin. It was
not, however, altogether an original idea, though the application of it was so admirable, as Francis
Sforza, at an earlier date, on taking possession, amidst considerable contention, of the State of
Milan, assumed as his bearing a greyhound, and the motto, "Quietum nemo impune lacessit." The
Thistle gives its name to an order of knighthood. Enthusiastic antiquarians ascribe a fabulous
antiquity to the Order of the Thistle; but its real institution, or, as some would say, revival, took
place in the year 1657, during the reign of James II. of Great Britain. James I. of England, but
VI. of Scotland, on his accession to the throne of the United Kingdom, took as a badge a compound
form, half Rose half Thistle, a central upright line dividing them. The stalk supporting this
curious flower has on the one side a Rose leaf, on the other that of a Thistle. This impalement,
as it would be termed heraldically, of the Rose and Thistle is borne on the arms of the Earls of
Kinnoull. The Thistle occurs too in the arms of the Aberdeens; while, in the reign of Henry
VIII., Sir William Finch bore as a badge a greenfinch standing on a Thistle flower. The
Stuarts adopted as a badge the Cotton Thistle (Onopordum acanthium); it is a scarce plant in
Scotland, and, though sometimes cultivated as the veritable Scottish Thistle, can have but little
claim on our recognition as the badge of the nation.
PLATE 13.
"That which proves
Strong poison unto me, another loves,
And eats, and lives: thus Hemlock juice prevails,
And kills a man, but fattens goats and quails."—Creech's Lucretius.
The plant we have chosen for representation, the Henbane (Hyoscyamus niger), though
not often to be met with, and therefore of unfamiliar appearance, is one that we are persuaded will
prove a valuable addition to the designer's store, the leaves, blossoms, and fruit being alike striking
in form, and of that due proportion to each other that is so important an element for the considera-
tion of the ornamentist The plant must be sought for on rubbish heaps and waste land about
villages and ruins. It is distributed sparingly over the whole of England and Ireland and the
South of Scotland, and may be found in flower during most of the Summer months. The flowers
are in one-sided and leafy spikes, rolled up in a circinate manner during the early stages of
flowering, but which gradually elongate until they present a line of some ten to twenty blossoms.
The early stage is that which, owing to our limited space, we have here represented. The calyx
during the flowering is small and foliaceous (fig. 120) in texture and appearance; but becomes
larger as the fruit ripens (fig. 117), and is much more solid and rigid to the touch, the five terminal
points becoming prickly. The whole plant is very hairy and viscid, and has an extremely nauseous
smell.
The Henbane is one of our most powerful narcotic plants: it is a dangerous poison, but,
under certain circumstances, and with due caution, becomes a valuable remedial agent from its
sedative properties. The natural supply not being sufficient for the requirements of the pharma-
copoeia, it is raised in considerable quantities, as a field crop, in the neighbourhood of Mitcham, in
Surrey, a place long famous for its herb gardens. Cases of accidental poisoning are not common,
as the plant is at once too scarce and too unpleasant when found to afford much temptation to
children, while it does not at all resemble any culinary vegetable; these are the two ordinary causes
of such mistakes—either a plant (like the Deadly Nightshade, with its cherry-like fruit) tempts
little fingers to gather it, from its resemblance to some fruit they know, or from its own tempting
appearance; or it is taken in mistake by older persons (as in the case of the Aithusa Cynapium,
having leaves somewhat like those of the Garden Parsley) for some esculent Children have,
however, with serious consequences, eaten the fruit in mistake for filberts. Sir Hans Sloane
relates a case where a child, after such a mistake, though it ultimately recovered, remained for
fifty hours in a profound sleep. The roots have been eaten in error with the most terrible
results. Woodville mentions an instance where the leaves were boiled in a soup; all who partook
of it became delirious, catching wildly at things about them, and in all ways exhibiting the
symptoms of acute mania; while Gerarde, in his quaint English, says—" The leaves, seed, and
juice taken inwardly, cause an unquiet sleepe, like unto the sleepe of drunkennesse, which con-
tinueth long, and is deadly to the party." The Henbane belongs to the same order of plants as
the Deadly Nightshade (fig. 271) and the dangerous Thorn-apple (fig. 321): an order containing
many other acrid and narcotic species. Linnaeus called the plants comprising this order Luridce,


28
PLANTSi THEIR NATURAL GROWTH
an analysis of this one tribe of plants, but we must now leave all further consideration of them, and,
in conclusion, briefly refer to the colours of the various flowers. The great majority are deep
yellow, as in the Broom or Furze; or white, as in the Trifolium repens, the Dutch Clover; but
in some species—ex. Lathyrus latifolius (fig. 168)—they are pink; in others crimson—ex. L.
Tuberosus, the Tuberous Bitter Vetch; in some lilac—ex. Medicago sativa, the Lucerne; or
purple—ex, Astralagus hypoglottis, the Purple Mountain Milk Vetch. In Vicia lutea the flowers
are of a pale yellow. All the pea flowers belong to the natural order Leguminosce, an order
that, with the exception of the Composites, contains more British plants than any other. All the
British genera are papilionaceous, a term applied to the form of their flowers, as seen in figs. 99,
128, 167, 168, from a supposed resemblance to a butterfly (Lat papilio), with expanded wings, a
resemblance more fanciful perhaps than obvious.
PLATE 16.
God first planted a garden and indeed it is the purest of human pleasures.—Bacon : Essay on Gardens.
The Ranunculus bulbosus, or Bulbous Crowfoot, is one of our commonest species of
Crowfoots, or Buttercups, as they are often termed, and from being the plant that ordinarily in the
Spring covers the meadows with its brilliant flowers, and transforms them for a time into a mass
of golden yellow, must be familiar to even those who commonly are but little observant The
individual plant is no less beautiful, and amply repays a closer attention. The designer will find
in it rich store of material, the flowers being large and good in form, the leaves having great
richness and variety of contour, and the general growth of the plant free and flowing in its lines,
while the swelling expansion at the base of the stem, and the radiating fibrous roots beneath it,
form an admirable terminal form. In rich soils the flowers are occasionally double; it will be
seen that one of the flowers in fig. 132 is of this character, the others on the same plant being of
normal form. Front and back veins of the normal arrangement of parts—i.e., five petals and five
sepals, are shown in figs. 134 and 135 : while, in figs. 133, 139, the plan and side views are given
of a flower having a greater number of petals, the sepals being generally, even when the petals
are very numerous, only five in number. The R. bulbosus is one of the favourite plants of the
carvers of the 14th century gothic, and examples of its introduction into their ornament are very
numerous—so numerous that we need scarcely pause to enumerate any special instances, as any
of our finer remains of that period, such as Lincoln or Southwell, will afford illustrations. The
species of Ranunculus are somewhat numerous, and many of them possess features that render
them of value to the art student; thus the R. aquatilis, or Water Crowfoot, a plant very commonly
to be met with in ponds and streams, has large white flowers, and two very distinct forms of
leaves—the upper ones rich in form, and floating on the surface: the lower ones submerged, and
deeply cut into fine linear segments, a feature of the greatest value ornamentally. The R. lingua,
or Spearwort, is another plant of great utility to the designer, its stems being erect, and two to
three feet high: the leaves long and simple in outline: the flowers very large. We need not
further particularise the remaining species; but the designer will do well to consult any good
illustrated work for R. Ficaria (see fig. 315, in present work), R. acris, R. repens, and R.
parviflorus—as all these possess valuable features at the service of the designer. The R.
arvensis, or Corn Crowfoot, another good species, forms the subject of plate XXV. The
brilliant Garden Ranunculus is a species from the Levant; it is known botanically as the R.
Asiaticus. The name Buttercup clearly arises from a belief very prevalent in country districts
that the rich yellow of the Spring butter is caused by the presence of these plants in the herbage;
so far is this, however, from being the case, that cattle scrupulously avoid them on account of their
acrid nature. The name Crowfoot can as clearly be traced to the fancied resemblance between
the leaves—see figs. 137, 138—and the feet of a bird. From the extreme commonness of the
present plant it naturally bears many names in various parts of the country, as, for instance, Frog's-
foot, Gold-knobs, Gold-cup, Baffiner, Bassinet, Troil-flower, Butter-flower, and Polt Some of these
names have a significance too obvious to need any attempt at explanation, while others, we con-
fess, are too recondite to permit us to render it Goldknob is a not inexpressive name when we
see the opening buds, while Goldcup is no less expressive when the flowers are* fully expanded.
Baffiner, inexplicable in itself, is possibly a corruption of Bassinet, as such names undergo strange
mutations amongst those who do not comprehend their import Bassinet is derived from the
French word bassinet, a small basin or skull cap, in allusion to the shape of the fully open blossom.
Troil-flower is derived from the old German word trol, a globe or ball.


AND ORNAMENTAL TREATMENT.
29
The specific name, bulbosus, alludes to the bulb-like expansion of the base of the stem, the
part that is ordinarily called the root; the term is, however, scarcely correct, as the true root is
seen in the mass of little fibres beneath the bulbous mass. It is not a true bulb.
As the roots of plants are, under skilful treatment, capable of being made characteristic
and beautiful features in a design, we will just glance at a few points concerning the modifi-
cations they undergo for the benefit of the more inexperienced of our readers. The root may
be defined briefly as the descending portion of a plant—-it is ordinarily that portion of a plant
that develops beneath the soil; some plants, however, have their roots developed in the open
air. These are termed epiphytes: they grow upon other plants, but merely derive support from
them; they do not, like the parasite, penetrate their substance or draw any nourishment from
the plants they cling to. A true root does not develop leaf buds on its surface, nor scales, the
rudimentary leaf form; hence any body, as, for example, the bulb of the White Garden Lily
(Lilium candidum), that has a clothing of scales, is not a root: the root proper will be found
springing from beneath it Where the root is not simply a mass of fibres, as in grasses, it
ordinarily develops a central portion, a prolongation of the line of the stem: this is termed a tap
root; from this central body lateral portions may be given off", while these in turn may branch
again. The root derives from the soil those chemical constituents that are necessary for the well-
being of the plant, and stores them away for future service, as well as for immediate need; it
also gives the needful mechanical support to the plant, and ensures its stability. The simplest
form of root is the conical—the common Carrot is a familiar example of this; at times, the
greatest diameter of such a root may, instead of being near the top, be some little distance down.
This modification renders it fusiform, or spindle-shaped, and of this the Radish affords a good illus-
tration; while, at other times, the form becomes more globular, when it is termed napiform, from
Napus, a turnip—a. plant that very well exemplifies this mode of growth. A great richness of
form is seen in the fasciculate root, where, as in the Asphodel, a series of conical roots all spring
from the base of the stem. A very similar form of root is seen in the Dahlia; but in this case the
component parts are not conical, they are rather elliptical, as the greatest bulk of the stored-up
matter is deposited near the centre of each of the lateral members. Other characteristic forms are
the nodose, testiculate, moniliform, and annulated; but having now called the attention of the
designer to the point by the few examples mentioned, we do not propose to go at any greater
length into descriptive details, as these may be found in any work on structural botany. Roots
are not always thus regularly developed: abnormal requirements produce adventitous or abnormal
results, and, under these circumstances, roots are given off from various parts of plants, as when
a cutting is "struck." In the Ivy the root-like members thrown out from the stems assist to
support the plant by inserting themselves in the crevices of the brickwork or bark, and in Sea-
weeds what appears to be the root is but a collection of suckers or fibres, and merely gives
mechanical attachment In the Banyan tree these members develop from the branches; on enter-
ing the soil they become true roots, and aid in the support, the nourishment, and the extension
of the tree. In the same way the aerial roots thrown out by the Mangrove and Screw-pine
become ultimately rooted in the soil beneath. These filaments may attain to great dimensions—
the aerial roots of some species of Clusia are from eighty to a hundred feet long. Occasionally,
even while in mid-air, ramifications are produced and lateral bodies developed : this may be well
seen in the Rhus radicans. In some plants, as in many grasses, underground stems are developed;
but, from their scaly nature, they can be easily distinguished from the true roots. On a piece of
Roman earthenware, a rude form of vase, in the Museum of Economic Geology, London, the only
decoration is a series of forms in black, so identical in character with root forms, that there can be
but little doubt that some natural root afforded the suggestion. John, Duke of Bedford, brother
of Henry V., bore as one of his badges a golden root
PLATE 16.
"He prayeth best who loveth best
All things both great and small;
For the dear God who loveth us,
He made and loveth all."—Coleridge.
Out of the seven species of Campanula found wild in Britain, six have their blossoms on
long footstalks, the seventh only, the C. glomerata, the subject of the plate, having them sessile;
this, therefore, affords an easy means of identification of the present species, and it is well that
such a means exists, as there are few plants more changeable in appearance than this. In one


3o
PLANTS: THEIR NATURAL GROWTH
situation it may be found attaining a height of eighteen inches or so, generally when in rather
damp meadows: while, on our open, breezy downs, it rarely reaches a height the third of that, and is
dwarfed in every way, the flowers being at once individually smaller and collectively less numerous.
Like many other purple flowers its blossoms are occasionally of a pure white; but a greater
peculiarity, and one almost its own, is that on the same plant both purple and white bells may at
times be found. The plant represented in our plate is an exceptionally fine specimen, the blossoms
are ordinarily about three quarters of an inch long, in a fairly good example The upper leaves
are sessile, the lower ones stalked.
All the species of Campanula are well adapted to art work, and will repay attention. The
Hairbell, or Harebell, known botanically as the C. rotundifolia, from the roundness of its lower
leaves, is a very graceful plant It is in Catholic countries dedicated to St Dominic; it is also
claimed as the " Blue-bell" of Scotland, though its claims to this poetic distinction have been
disputed, apparently without much justice, in favour of the wild Hyacinth. It is a plant eminently
adapted for light and delicate work. Of the other species, the C. rapunculoides, C. Rapunculus,
and C. hederacea are especially worthy of the ornamentist's regard.
The generic name, Campanula, is derived from the Latin, and signifies a little bell; it has,
therefore, the same force of meaning as the familiar English name, while the specific name,
glomerata, signifies rolled together in a mass like a ball, and is applied botanically to this plant
from the dense terminal head of flowers so distinctive of this species; the common name of the
plant, the Clustered Bell-flower, is, therefore, almost a literal translation of the botanical appel-
lation. The two designs, figs, 146, 147, are attempts on our part to emphasise this clustering
together of the bells of this beautiful wild-flower.
The significance of plant names will be found a matter not altogether without interest, as
there is often a very considerable depth of meaning, on analysis, in a word that from constant use
has grown too familiar to us to lead to any thought on the matter. Into the many sections into
which this subject may be divided—names given from poetical association, ex. Pansy; names
given from the locality the plant is found in, ex. Cheddar Pink; names given in allusion to the
situation in which the plant is found) ex. Stonecrop; names given from season of flowering, ex.
Lent Lily; names derived from religious or legendary association, ex. St John's Wort; names
based on economic uses, ex. Broom; names given from the medicinal service, ex. Wormwood—
it is not here desirable to enter upon at any length; but the class of names given to plants in
recognition of their resemblance to some other objects is suggested to us by the example
afforded by the subject of our plate . This class, appealing, as it does, both to the faculty of
observation and the influence of the superstitious, no less than to the love of the marvellous and
strange, is in every country largely developed; and the same turn of mind which, in the Middle
Ages, found so many objects of Nature to justify the doctrine of signatures, was no less alive to
these accidental resemblances. Many, therefore, are obvious enough to justify their names, while
others do not so fully bear out the somewhat forced analysis which has been sought out In
these cases, as in the other examples derived from the various sources that we have indicated above,
many of the names yet preserve their meaning intact, and are as clearly to be understood now
as at any past time : while others, from change of dialect or custom, do not so readily commend
themselves to our understanding. In this latter subdivision we would merely instance the Oak,
Hazel, Columbine, and Garlic; for, though a list ten times as long might easily be added to these,
our desire is rather to make the subject suggestive than exhaustive. The Oak was by the Anglo-
Saxon called ac, by the Sweeds ek, and by the Danes eg; all these names are etymologically iden-
tical with egg, and refer to the egg-shaped acorns. The Oak, like many other objects, derived its
name from its product of greatest value, and though now we should certainly point to the timber
as being the most commercially valuable, we must bear in mind that the Oak, being a common
indigenous tree, received a name when wealth lay rather in the possession of numerous herds of
swine, and when the fruit of the Oak, rather than the wood, rendered the greater service. The
Hazel-nut derives its name from the Anglo-Saxon word hasel, a cap, and knutu, a nut: the re-
ference being to the large scales of the involucre, the green and somewhat leaf-like cap within
which we see the nut itself. Columbine is derived from the Latin word columba, a dove: another
English word for the plant being Culver-wort, from the Anglo-Saxon culfre, a pigeon; and both
these names indicating the strong resemblance of the ring of spurred petals to a group of little
pigeons—(see fig. 300). Garlic, from the Anglo-Saxon words gar, a spear, and leac, a plant, is so
called from its acute and spear-like leaves; though it is only right to mention that another deriva-
tion, which has been suggested, is based on the Gaelic word garg, pungent, and luigh, a plant
More familiar examples may be seen in the Lantern plant (fig. 30), the Buttercup (fig. 139), the
Tulip tree (fig. 170), the Rattle (fig. 233), the Foxglove (fig. 286), and in the scientific names of
the Aster, from its star-like form (fig. 296), and the Violet cornuta, from its spur resembling a


32
PLANTS: THEIR NA TURAL GROWTH
man may read even in legible characters the use of them." As examples of this we may mention
the Herb Robert (Geranium Robertianum), and the Foxglove (Digitalis purpurea). The first was
held, from the brilliant crimson of its leaves during the Autumn, to be in an especial degree ser-
viceable as a vulnerary to arrest the flow of blood; the second, from the form and colour of the
interior of the flower, was termed Throat-wort, and was held in great repute for its remedial
efficacy in all relaxation or soreness of the throat
In mediaeval times there were few plants that were not held to possess healing powers—
some, no doubt, justly; though foreign drugs of greater potency, as Quinine or Ipecacuanha have
in these later days supplanted them; while others—we may, with little lack of charity say—were
of no more value than the faith or imagination of the patient were able to impart Amongst the
manifold uses of plants, as detected by Gerarde, the following are but a few :—" To comfort the
cold, weake, and feeble brains—to keep dogs from growing greate—to refresh a wearied horse, and
make him travell the better—to waken one out of a deep sleepe—to cause a traveller to feel no
wearisomnesse." Every old herbal abounds with recipes—the same plant having often the
most contradictory appplications.
PLATE 18.
"Our artists are so generally convinced of the truth of the Darwinian theory, that they do not always think it necessary to
show any difference between the foliage of an Elm or an Oak; and the gift books of Christmas have every page surrounded with
laboriously engraved garlands of Rose, Shamrock, Thistle, and Forget-me-not, without its being thought proper by the draughts-
men, or desirable by the public, even in the case of these uncommon flowers, to observe the real shape of the petals of any one of
them."—Ruskin.
Amongst the less conspicuous flowers of the hedge-side, few are more worthy of the
ornamentist's regard than the Ground Ivy (Nepeta Glachoma), the subject of our plate. It is so
commonly to be found that any lengthened description of it seems useless. The leaves, it will be
noticed, grow in pairs, each succeeding pair being at right angles with the last, so that, on looking
down on the plant, as in fig. 155, a cross-like form is observed. This is very well shown in the
ornamental adaptation (fig. 157) taken from one of the tiles from Chertsey Abbey. The excel-
lence of the design shown in these tiles, we have already had opportunity of dwelling upon in
our remarks on the Musk Mallow. When the plant is trailing on the ground, the leaves, in their
desire to come towards the light, do not adhere to this cruciform arrangement, but are all in one
direction; though, on tracing them down to the stem, it will be found that the successive pairs are
given off at right angles to each other, as in the upright shoots. We have endeavoured in our
design (fig. 162) to give a conventional treatment of this turning upwards of the leaves to the
light; while in our sketch (fig. 161) we have selected as the basis of our design the upright growth.
The flowers, it will be observed, grow in whorls from the axils of the leaves. These whorls, it
will be noticed too, are unilateral (fig. 158, 159); they grow on one or other side of the stem, but
do not, as in the White Dead Nettle (Lamium Album), surround it by a ring of blossoms. The
central stem is square—a feature delicately suggested in fig. 157 : while fig. 160 gives the true,
natural form. The Ground Ivy is so called from its trailing habit: it has no botanical relationship
whatever to the true Ivy, and we cannot but think that the name, though sanctioned by long
usage, is an unfortunate one. The plant was held in high favour as a medicinal herb, and is still
employed in country districts, being slightly tonic and stimulating. During the Middle Ages, its
virtues were considered far greater than later investigations have appeared to justify, and one
fanciful belief—its supposed power to heal the sting made by a scorpion—gives it its generic name,
Nepeta, that being derived from Nepa, a scorpion. Besides the name given, it has many others,
though they are generally of more local application; while Ground Ivy is the name by which it
may be found, by all who desire to learn more regarding it, in all botanical works. Other names
are Cat's-foot—a not inappropriate name, its soft leaves, clothed with silk-like hairs, being in tex-
ture and shape not unlike the foot of the cat—Gill-go-by-ground, Turn-hoof, Hay-maids, and Ale-
hoof. The name Gill-go-by-ground is obscure, owing to change both of language and custom.
It arose from the old practice of gilling, or, as we now term it, fermenting during brewing, by the
addition of a few of these leaves. It was supposed to improve the flavour too, and to render the
liquor clearer; for we read in an old herbal that—" It is good to turn up with new drink, for it
will clarify it in a night; or, if any be thick with removing, or any other accident, it will do the
like in a few hours." The country name, Ale-hoof, is, no doubt, also derived from this old
economic use of the plant The Ground Ivy has not been so freely used in decorative art as its
abundance would lead one to suppose probable. The only other good example with which we
are familiar, in addition to the one given on the Chertsey tile, is in a small spandril in one of the
doorways of the Cathedral at Rheims.


AND ORNAMENTAL TREATMENT.
33
PLATE 19.
"Nature never did betray
The heart that loved her: 'tis her privilege,
Through all the years of this our life, to lead
From joy to joy; for she can so inform
The mind that is within us, so impress
With quietness and beauty, and so feed
With lofty thoughts, that neither evil tongues,
Rash judgments, nor the sneers of selfish men,
Nor greetings where no kindness is, nor all
The dreary intercourse of daily life
Shall e'er prevail against us or disturb
Our cheerful faith, that all that we behold
Is full of blessings."—Wordsworth.
The broad-leaved Everlasting Pea, the Lathyrus latifolius of botanists, the subject of
the present plate, is, strictly speaking, a garden flower; for though it is occasionally found in what
may be considered a wild state, it is in all cases only as an escape from cultivation. It is very
rarely to be met with in this semi-wild state, though it has been found in woods in Cumberland,
Bedfordshire, Gloucestershire, and one or two other English counties, and on the Salisbury Craigs,
Edinburgh; as a cultivated plant it is by no means uncommon; its hardiness, climbing pro-
perties, perennial nature, and profusion of beautiful bloom, rendering it a general favourite. It
will be found in flower during July and August The plant is a native of Southern Europe,
though some botanists are unwilling to admit its claim to be considered a species, regarding it
only as a variety of the L. sylvestris, or narrow-leaved Everlasting Pea, a somewhat common
plant The main points of distinction are—that in L. latifolius the flowers are larger, and richer
in colour, and the leaves are much broader in proportion to their length. The winging of the
stem is a very conspicuous and striking feature in both species. The semi-sagittate stipulate forms
of the present plant are a very ornamental characteristic. In introducing the plant with any
ornamental composition, a great variety of form is possible without violation of natural truth, as, at
the same time, the bud, the opening and fully expanded flower, and the ripened pod, may be found
on one plant All these stages of the plant's history are represented on the plate.
As we have already had occasion to refer to the stipules of plants, and shall, doubtless, still
further require to do so, the present seems a convenient opportunity to make some few and brief
observations concerning them.
Stipules are scaly or foliaceous appendages, occurring at the base of the leaf-stalk in some
plants. They are generally two in number, one on either side of the stem. They are exceedingly
varied in form and size—in some cases being very similar in form to the true leaves; while, at
other times, the modification of structure is so great that they become tendrils—ex. Simlax, or
thorns—ex. Pictatia. The young student must, therefore, regard their position more than their
appearance : the one being fixed, the other exceedingly variable. Stipulary forms are sometimes
found to embrace the stem in a sheath-like form; this modification of the type form is called an
ochrea, and may be very well seen in the garden Rhubarb; a very similar form is seen in many
grasses. It is very curious that while, in many families of plants, as the Rosacec e and Leguminosce,
the species are stipulate, in others, as the Caryophyllece, they are in every case wanting—the
plants being what is botanically termed exstipulate. Stipules, as we have said, are extremely
variable in size, and in the proportion they bear to the true leaves; in some cases they are actually
larger, and very notably so in an allied species of the Everlasting Pea, the L. aphaca, where the real
leaves are almost abortive, and the large stipules found in their place perform the physiological
functions that normally fall to the office of the leaf. Stipules are very variable in their duration;
in some cases they fall with the leaves at the approach of Autumn; in others, as in the Oak, they
fall very early, the leaf then appearing exstipulate; while in some cases they outlive the foliage,
remaining in situ, when the true leaves have disappeared. Occasionally the two stipules unite on
the side of the stem opposite to the leaf, and thus present the appearance of one large stem-
encircling stipule; but the union is rarely ever complete, and, on close investigation, the line of
junction is perceptible. In opposite stipulate leaves it frequently happens that those of each side
of the leaf are united with those of the opposite leaf, and in this case it appears as though there
were but two stipules, one on each side, common to the two leaves. The leaflets of compound
leaves at times present, at their bases, little organs, bearing the same relationship to the leaflet
that the stipule does to a leaf. These are termed stipels; they may be very well seen in the Scarlet
Runner.
Turning now to our plates for illustrations, we find examples of exstipulate plants in the
Atropa Belladonna (fig. 271), and the Mistletoe (Viscum album, fig. 331); while in the Musk


34
PLANTS: THEIR NATURAL GROWTH
Mallow (Malva moschata, fig. 85)—a stipulate plant—-the stipules are very small and linear,
altogether unlike the leaves of the plant In the Water Avens (Geum rivale, fig. 179), the
stipules are small, but of very similar character to the foliage; while in the Viola cornuta, the
stipules are very large and foliaceous. In the Red-berried or White Bryony (fig. 90) the tendrils
are considered to be stipulary in character. Other very good examples of stipulate leaves, though
not herein illustrated, will be seen in those of the Hawthorn or Wild-rose, the former especially
being particularly rich in form. Stipules, though but features of secondary value to the orna-
mentist, will often be found of service, as, by their judicious introduction, the point where a leaf is
thrown off from the stalk can be considerably enriched: a very desirable result very frequently, the
mere divergence of two lines if the point of departure be unclothed, having often a bald and poor
effect; thus, in our design based on the Thistle (fig. 115), it will be noticed that we have been
careful to clothe the various junctions with foliage. This principle will be observed in the best
Greek and mediaeval work; but it must not be carried to excess, the eye must feel that the continuity
of the lines is duly provided for, and the main curves must receive due emphasis: overloading
them is as much an error of judgment as the exhibition of meagreness,
PLATE 20.
"No tree in all the grove but has its charms,
Though each its hue peculiar: paler some
And of a warmish grey; the Willow such,
And Poplar, that with silver lines his leaf,
And Ash, far-stretching his umbrageous arm;
Of deeper green the Elm; and deeper still,
Lord of the woods, the long-surviving Oak,
Some glossy-leaved and shining in the sun,
Now green, now tawny, and ere Autumn yet
Has changed the woods, in scarlet honours bright"—Cowper.
In the introduction of any plant into a design, care must be taken, not only that it is a
plant appropriate in scale to the space to be filled, but also that the parts of the plant that are intro-
duced bear a due proportion to each other, so as to ensure a due balance of colour and form.
Hence many plants, while presenting numerous features of interest, cannot, as a whole, be
introduced into any decorative scheme with just ornamental effect; some, like the Comfrey
(Symphytum officinale), having the flowers too small for the large masses of foliage: while in
others the reverse is seen. At other times, owing to the studied simplicity of a design, the leaf
forms, or those of the flowers, are alone introduced; while, again, the same result may follow from
a desire to lessen expense by the introduction of as few colours as possible. It is in all these cases
quite legitimate to avail ourselves to the full of any portions of a plant that thus seem best fitted
for our purpose, or to discard those that, for some sufficient reason, are not suited to our require-
ments. Examples of designs based on leaf forms alone will be seen in figs. 157, 161, 162, 180,
188, 206, 207, 220, 232, 240, 257, 264, 284, 304, 309, 318, 319, 320, 322, 324, 337, 340, 346, 348;
while other examples, based on floral forms alone, will be found in figs. 80, 84, 218, 269, 298, 313,
and the centre of 344. The patera-form, so characteristic of classic art, in most cases is evidently
suggested by a fully opened flower, though in some few cases it appears to be rather a rosette of
leaves. A delicate powdering of stellate forms will often produce a very rich effect Very
suggestive star-like forms will be found scattered throughout the plates—figs. 23, 26, 29, 39, 79,
i11, 134, 150, 186, 193, 276, and 305, being especially good; in many cases it is the only way
that a beautiful natural form can be employed: an isolated flower of the Elder, for example
(fig. 26), would be admirably adapted as the unit of repetition in such a design, while it would be
impossible to produce any satisfactory result if an attempt were made to express any idea of the
dense head of blossom produced naturally by the plant In the present plate we have collected
a number of leaves, the parts that, in all the plants from whence they are taken, are of most value
to the ornamentist
The leaf of the common Fig (Ficus Carica) shown in our 169th illustration, is of a very
bold and suggestive form. Figs. 325 and 326, based on somewhat similar forms, indicate how it
might be advantageously employed. The Fig, though originally a native of Asia, now flourishes in
Southern Europe, and even at times ripens its fruit in the open air in England. It was first
introduced into this country by Cardinal Pole, in the year 1525, and the two trees which he had
brought over from Italy are still to be seen, or at least were very recently, in the Archiepiscopal
garden at Lambeth, one having a stem of twenty-one inches, and the second of twenty-eight
inches circumference. Figs have been employed as food and medicine from the earliest time.


AND ORNAMENTAL TREATMENT.
35
The wife of Nabal appeased the wrath of the fugitive David, we read, by a present that included
some cakes of figs; while we also read of its use medicinally in the Old Testament history, by
King Hezekiah, some 2,500 years ago. The Athenians attached such value to it that the export
of its fruit was forbidden; while at Rome, in the Bacchic rites, it was carried next to the vine as
a symbol of plenty and joy. The stems of the Fig exude, when broken, a milky, tenacious, and
very strong-smelling juice. About 900 tons of the dried fruit are annually imported into Britain,
chiefly from Greece and Turkey; those from the neighbourhood of Smyrna are considered the
best Botanically, the fruit of the Fig is very curious and interesting; but space presses, and we
must refer our readers for full information to any good work on structural botany. Other in-
teresting species are the F. Indica, F. elastica, F. religiosa, and F. sycomorus. The first of these
is the celebrated Banyan tree of India—its singular aerial roots have becn already referred to;
by means of these the tree spreads to an almost incredible extent, many of the trees being
more than five hundred yards round the circumference of the branches: the tenacious juice that
exudes from the tree is used as bird-lime. Though many of the trunks are nine to ten feet in
diameter, the wood is soft and porous, and of no economic value. The viscid milky fluid that
flows from excisions made in the wood of F, elastica furnishes one of the commercial varieties of
caoutchouc, though it is inferior to that produced from the Brazilian Siplwnia elastica. The F.
religiosa, or Peepul Tree, is one of the common trees of India, being very extensively planted
near houses, for the sake of the welcome shade thrown by its huge mass of foliage. It derives its
specific name, religiosa, from the veneration in which it is held by the Hindoos, one of their great
deities, Vishnu, having, according to their mythological teaching, been born beneath its branches.
The F. sycomorus is an Egyptian species, and, like the last, is extensively planted for its grateful
shade. It is the Sycamore or Sycamore-fig, of the Biblical narrative.
Fig. 170 is the form, and a very curious one, of the leaf of the Tulip Tree (Liriodendron
tulipifera), a native of North America. It was introduced into England in 1663. It flowers
here freely during June and July, but in this country rarely ripens its seeds; though, in other
respects, the climate seems to suit it, as it grows freely in the open air, often attaining a height of
upwards of one hundred feet Its English name Tulip Tree, and the botanical tulipifera, are
both given from the resemblance of its yellow and orange flowers, both in size and colour, to the
flowers of the Tulip. Many of the leaves are larger than the one here shown; but all alike are
of the curiously four-lobed and truncated form of the present example.
Figs. 171 and 172 are the leaves of the Sida hastata, and of the Phelloderma cwteato-ovata,
respectively. The plants have no English names: the first is a native of Mexico, the second, of
Chili. The Kolreuteria paniculata, a Chinese tree, affords us the very graceful leaf shown in fig.
173. The plant has been introduced into England since 1763; specimens of it may be seen
growing in the open air in Kensington Gardens, near London. The delicate gradation and
variation of form in the different members comprising the leaf are very beautiful features: points
well deserving attentive study.
The leaf of the Jute (Corchorus capsularis) is the subject of our next illustration (fig. 174).
Though similar in general form to many leaves that we are familiar with, the two elongated forms
at the base of the leaf give it a quaint individuality of its own. The plant has, within the last
few years, been very largely grown in India for the fibre it produces—a fibre a good deal used in the
manufacture of bales and sacks for the export of rice, sugar, cotton, &c., and less legitimately as a
means of lowering the quality of silk, as the fibre is very fine, and of a satiny lustre, so that the
fraud is not easily detected. Jute is an annual, attaining a height of from four to fourteen feet
The flowers are small, and have five rather finely-cut yellow petals. It is estimated that about
120,000 tons of fibre are manufactured in India, while about 80,000 tons of the raw material are
each year exported to Great Britain. Almost the whole of the jute that reaches our shores finds
its way to Dundee. The cost of the fibre, on its arrival at the factory, is about £20 per ton,
though, owing to scarcity at a given time, or the quality of the sample, this price is sometimes
considerably exceeded. Many thousands of persons are now employed in the various processes
of manufacture; though, in 1822, a Mr. Neish, a merchant of Dundee, having received a small
quantity of jute, was glad, after keeping it some years, to sell it off at a nominal price to get it out
of the way. At the present date it is estimated that capital amounting to over five millions
sterling is invested in the jute factories of Dundee and its vicinity.
The leaf of the Maple (Acer campestre) is that chosen for the last illustration on the plate.
The Maple is a common hedge-row tree throughout England, though it is somewhat scarcer both
in Scotland and Ireland. The leaves and fruit were largely employed, during the 14th century, in
the wood and stone carving of our Cathedrals, and also in the stained glass and illuminated MSS.
of that period. It is, in fact, like the Oak or Buttercup, one of the most characteristic forms seen
in the ornament of that time. Very good examples of it may be seen at Southwell, Lincoln, and
x


AND ORNAMENTAL TREATMENT.
37
PLATE 2 2.
"What we specially need at present for educational purposes Is to know, not the anatomy of plants, but their biography-
how and where they live and die, their tempers, benevolences, malignities, distresses, and virtues. We want them drawn from their
youth to their age—from bud to fruit We ought to see the various forms of their diminished but hardy growth in cold climates
or poor soils: and their rank or wild luxuriances when full fed and warmly nursed ; and all this we ought to have drawn so accurately
that we might at once compare any given part of a plant with the same part of any other drawn on the like conditions."—Ruskin.
The Crane's-bills, or wild geraniums, are all plants well adapted to art work. Bentham,
in his British Flora, recognises twelve species; other writers twelve to fourteen, the discrepancy
arising from the fact, that some of the species are doubtful natives, and each writer at his discretion
excludes or includes these as he sees best, according to the evidence accessible to him There is
a strong family likeness seen in the midst of the distinct individuality of each species, so that any
one who was familiar with some four or five species would have little difficulty in identifying the
others as belonging to the same genus. One marked feature is, that the flowers all grow on long
peduncles, each of these, except in one species, forking off into two pedicels bearing a single blossom.
This may be seen in the upper part of fig. 184, where the flower, seen in side view, is evidently
one of the two that will ultimately surmount the peduncle when the bud on the companion pedicel
has opened. It is very clearly seen in fig. 282. The only exception to this growth is seen in
the Geranium sanguineum; in this the flowers are always found singly on the peduncle . As we
have had occasion, once or twice, to Use the very similar terms, peduncle and pedicel, it will be
well just to give a few words to them before passing on. The peduncle is the stalk supporting
the flowers that are given off from it laterally or terminally. The little stalks that branch off from
the peduncle, and each support one blossom, are the pedicels. Another very curious feature, and
one confined to the Geranicece, is seen in the arrangement for the dispersion of the ripened seeds;
but as this is a matter of interest to the botanist rather than to the designer, we need not here
dwell upon it
The Geranium pratense, of blue Meadow Crane's-bill (the subject of our Plate), is one of
the largest of the genus, being frequently over two feet high. It grows, as the specific and familiar
English names imply, on pasture land, though it may also be found in moist thickets and country
lanes. Though local, it is generally distributed throughout England, while it is scarce in Scotland,
and not known at all in Ireland. The plant is found in flower from May to August, the size of its
blossoms rendering it very conspicuous. The colour of the blossoms is sufficient in itself to distin-
guish it from all our other species, most of which have flowers more or less tinged with pink, though
in the dusky Crane's-bill (C. phoeum) the flowers are of a dark brownish-purple—a very unusual
colour, and one that attracts attention from its singularity rather than from its beauty. The leaves
of the present species are very large, and are more deeply cut than in any other members of the
genus. From their slight resemblance to the lower leaves of the Ranunculus acris, the plant is
sometimes known as the Crowfoot Crane's-bill. On the approach of autumn the leaves of several
of the geraniums turn a vivid crimson, as, for example, those of the herb Robert, or G. Robertianum,
the shining Crane's-bill (G. lucidum, fig. 282), and the present species, and, under these circum-
stances, have a beautiful effect in the midst of other vegetation. The twisting and overlapping of
the petals in the bud is a point ornamentally valuable: indications of it are seen in the opening
flower (fig. 185). Other species of our wild Crane's-bill, that the designer will do well to fami-
liarise himself with, are the herb Robert (G. Robertianum), a plant beautiful both in foliage and
flower, and one of our commonest kinds; the G. sanguineum, a plant with very large flowers and
richly-cut leaves; the wood-geranium (G. sylvaticum); the shining Crane's-bill (G. lucidum), figured
on plate 34; the Dove's-foot geranium (G. molle), a particularly ornamental plant, and one espe-
cially suited to the decoration of light fabrics, where delicacy and refinement are desired ; the cut-
leaved geranium (G. disseclum), a species with small purple flowers, but having very richly-cut
leaves, and the long-stalked geranium (G. columbinum). It scarcely seems desirable, having due
regard to our space, to enter at any great length into the special peculiarities of each of these
plants. Our readers will, however, have no difficulty in finding them out by referring, by the names
given, to any good illustrated work.
Plant-colour may often prove as suggestive to the designer as plant-form. We do not
here refer so particularly to the tints of flowers, so beautiful in themselves and so infinite in
variety, since these we may naturally assume have received the loving attention of the true
follower of decorative art; we are thinking now rather of the field for study open in the considera-
tion of the tints of the foliage, and more especially when the Autumnal influences have begun to
make themselves felt The Elm, before losing its leaves, shows us a mass of rich yellow brown;
in the Maple, the leaves are one mass of tawny yellow; in the Guelder Rose, the whole tree
becomes brilliant crimson; while in the Brambles, unlike the other examples, a whole host of


38
PLANTS: THEIR NATURAL GROWTH
lovely contrasts and harmonies are found—crimson, deep yellow, pale green, clear brown, varying1
shades of purple and grey. Seaweeds too, as materials for design, have never received a tithe of
the attention they deserve—
"The deep's untrampled floor,
With green and purple seaweeds strewn,"
seems a veritable terra incognita to our designers, yet every beach is strewn with forms of
surpassing beauty, in form and colour alike excellent About 380 species are found on the
British coasts. Fungi, or toadstools, though repellent to many persons, are often very beautiful
in colour, sometimes, as in the scarlet fly Agaric (Agaricus muscarius), of an intense red, or, as in
the Clavaria fusiformis, a. deep orange yellow; lilac in the Agaricus personatus; brown in the
Boletus edulis; white as snow in Clavaria rugosa; lemon yellow in C. Amethystina; or black, as
in the Tuber Cibarium.
As it has been necessary, in speaking of the various Crane's-bills, to repeatedly use the
generic term Geranium, adding to it some distinctive term, as Robertianum, molle, or pratense,
to indicate the particular plant in question, the present seems a convenient opportunity of giving
some explanation, in passing, as regards these purely scientific names. Botanical study subdivides
itself into several very distinct sections : thus we get the physiology of plants, a study that concerns
itself with the vital functions and organisms; economic botany, or a study of plants in their application
to the service of man, medicinally, commercially, &c.; and the study, again, of plants with a view to
their identification and classification. This is known as systematic botany. As upwards of 100,000
plants are now known, the necessity of some means of classifying them will be at once apparent,
since, while each plant must have a distinctive title belonging to itself alone, it is evident that no
memory, however cultivated, could retain 100,000 distinct names bearing no sort of association
with each other; hence a second name that is common to several plants on account of some
peculiarity they possess in common. Thus, for example, there are many plants which, from their
similarity, we call roses: rose, then, is a name we give to a genus or collection of similar plants,
while, to mark the slighter differences, we call one a red rose,-another a white rose, a third a sweet-
scented rose. The substantive is the generic name, and indicates those points in which a certain
number of plants agree; the adjective is the specific name, and points out some characteristic in
which that particular plant differs from all others allied with it In ordinary conversation we put
the specific before the generic name—as, for instance, white rose, while botanically the generic
name precedes the other, as Lathyrus hirsutus, Lathyrus sylvestris, Lathyrus tuberosus, Lathyrus
maritimus, one Lathyrus being hairy, another a dweller in woods, the third tuberous, the last a
sea-side plant The genera of plants being still too numerous for study without some further
scheme of classification (as there are over 6,000 genera), those which, in some degree, resemble
each other are aggregated into groups, called families or orders, while these natural orders (some 300
in number) are again collected into classes. The number of plants comprised in any one of these
divisions is very variable—thus, in some cases, one or two species, though somewhat similar in
themselves, may differ so entirely from others as to constitute the entire genus, while in others a
hundred or more plants may all be included under one generic head.
PLATE 23.
"Happy is he who lives to understand,
Not human nature only, but explores
All natures—to the end that he may find
The law that governs each; and where begins
The union, the partition where, that makes
Kind and degree among all visible beings:
The constitutions, powers, and faculties
Which they inherit—cannot step beyond—
And cannot fall beneath; that do assign
To every class its station and its office,
Through all the mighty commonwealth of things;
Up from the creeping plant to sovereign man."—Wordsworth.
The Leopard's-bane (Doronicum Pardalianclies), though not truly a native of Britain, has
been largely cultivated in cottage gardens, and has readily spread from thence, so that in many
parts of the country the plant has become so completely naturalised as to thoroughly justify its
insertion in our Flora. It is found in flower during the Spring and the earlier months of the
Summer. There is a considerable variation of form in the leaves, the upper, as seen in the plate,
being sessile and clasping the stem, the intermediate ones, on a short petiole with two broad
lobes half surrounding the stem, while the lowermost are on long and naked petioles as shown in


AND ORNAMENTAL TREATMENT
39
fig. 192. The plant is from one to three feet high, of a rather brilliant green, and soft in texture.
It possesses rather dangerous qualities, hence the familiar name; while the derivation of the word
Doronicum, given to the genus by Linnaeus, though not quite clear, is supposed to be derived
from two Greek words, doron, a gift, and nike, victory, as the plant was formerly used in some
countries to destroy wild beasts, though, according to other writers, it is the Arabic name for the
Leopard's-bane (durungi), latinized by the earlier botanists.
The Leopard's-bane belongs to the natural order Composites, the most extensive of all the
orders, the most widely spreading, and the most easily recognised. It contains more than 900
genera and almost 10,000 species. According to Humboldt, a sixth of the flowering plants of
North America, one half of those of tropical America, a sixteenth of the flora of New Holland,
one-eighth of that of Germany, one-seventh of that of France, belong to this important order.
Though, as ornamentists, we should speak of fig. 193 as the flower in the same way that we should
refer to the flower of the Buttercup, yet botanically it represents a whole bunch or head of flowers;
the composite flower, or flower-head being made up of an aggregation of florets, unisexual or
hermaphrodite, forming a dense head of blossom on a common receptacle, the part that we should
as ornamentists term the calyx, being a ring of bracts. Each little floret is in most cases very
minute, still, any careful observer will easily verify the existence of them for himself. In some of
the plants all the florets are perfect, i.e. have both stamens and pistil, and have a ligulate or strap-
like form of corolla, this may be very well seen by pulling a dandelion flower carefully to pieces.
In another large division all the florets are tubular, and alike in the same head, as in the thistles, or
these tubular florets, themselves regular in form, may have an outer ring of irregular and neuter
ones, as in the knapweeds (Fig. 247). In some cases these outer florets form by far the most con-
spicuous part of the flower-head, as in the Corn Blue-bottle (Centaurea Cyanus), where the florets of
the disk are small and purple, and those of the outer ray few, but bright blue, and of large size.
It would be foreign to our present purpose to enlarge on the various characteristics that
have aided the scientific botanist in his task of classification—a task of no small difficulty in deal-
ing with so many species; but all who care to peruse the subject at any length will derive all the
information they need on consulting any good work on systematic botany, aided by personal ob-
servation wherever it is at all possible, theoretical knowledge alone being of little value.
Our readers will find examples of the composite type of flower in figs. 104, 113, 243, 247;
296. Other very good natural and familiar illustrations will be met with in the Dandelion
(Taraxacum dens-leonis), the Daisy (Bellis perennis), Corn Marigold (Chrysanthemum segetum),
Chamomile (Anthemis nobilis), Yarrow (Achillea millefolium), Groundsel (Senecio vulgaris),
Ragwort (Senecio squalidus), Elecampane (Inula Helenium), Colt's-foot (Tussilago Farfara),
Chicory (Cichorium Intybus). Nipple-wort (Lapsana communis), Sowthistle (Sonchus oleraceus).
Amongst garden flowers, the Sun-flower, Dahlia, Aster, and Chrysanthemum belong to this
order. Amongst the British species, white or yellow, singly or combined, are the general colours.
In turning over a British Flora to test this, we found that ninety-seven of the species figured were
of various shades of yellow, and fourteen had the central part yellow, and the outer rays white;
twenty-seven of different tints of pink and purple, one with a yellow centre, surrounded by rays
of blue, while three were of blue alone.
Many of the composite flowers are well adapted to art purposes, the flower-heads being
often large and bold in character, and the leaves very frequently richly cut up into good artistic
forms. The stellate character of the flowers adapts them well for either vertical or horizontal
treatment Designs, embodying the stellate form characteristic of many of the species, will be
seen in figs. 297, 298, 299, in all these cases adaptation for an upright surface being the
treatment chosen.
PLATE 24.
"Where order in variety we see,
And where, though all things differ, all agree."—Pope.
"Similitude in dissimilitude."—Wordsworth.
The Hepatica flower, the Hepatica triloba of botanists, so called from the three distinct
lobes of the leaf, is one of those favoured plants that, like the Primrose or the Crocus, form the
ever-welcome advance-guard of the floral host, coming as it does in the early Spring, in
the bleak days of March, while yet the trees are leafless, and the stern grip of Winter seems
scarcely relaxed, and decking the border with its' little lilac star-like blossoms. The Hepatica, like
most of the flowers of the opening year, does not attain to any height, but shelters itself as best it
K


40
PLANTS: THEIR NATURAL GROWTH
may from the boisterous winds that sweep over it, by its lowly growth, the plant being found in little
clumps, and rearing its delicate blossoms some four or five inches only above the surface of the
ground, Each flower-stalk, as in the Daisy, springs directly from the root and bears but a single
blossom on its summit; the growth of the leaves is similar, they are not thrown off from branches,
as in the Buttercup, but, Primrose or Dandelion-like, radiate from the root Throughout our
descriptions it will, we trust, be understood that our desire is to give, as far as possible, the effect
of the plant as it would strike an ornamentist, the minutia; of a more rigid botanical analysis being
foreign to our present aim; thus, though in the Primrose, for example, the leaves and flower do
really spring from a very short central stem, yet as this stem is hidden by the bases of the leaves,
and is only apparent on close observation, we speak here rather of the effect of the plant as it
strikes an ornamentist, and, while inaccurate in a strictly scientific sense, best convey to a designer
an idea of the plant by speaking of the leaves as radiating from the root The Hepatica is
subject to a considerable variation of form, thus, though fig. 197 gives us the normal form of the
foliage, it is not uncommon to find some leaves with five lobes, as shewn in fig. 200, in the same
way that the Ivy, in the midst of a mass of five-lobed leaves, occasionally develops a few with
seven. A similar variation is frequently seen in the petals, for, though by far the greater
number of the flowers have six of these, it is not unusual to come across examples, as in fig. 203,
where those parts are eight in number. In many plants an increase of the parts is only a blemish,
as the additional members are frequently distorted or dwarfed, and thus the symmetry of the
whole is destroyed; but this seems rarely to be the case in the Hepatica, and the abnormal eight-
petaled flower is as beautiful in itself as the ordinary form of blossom, as suitable, therefore, for
introduction in any design; though, if Nature be but slightly conventionalised, it must be borne in
mind that such forms must be exceptional, and only introduced for the sake of that variation
that is as valuable a quality in ornamental art as in Nature. The curious form of the leaves
before their full expansion, as shewn in fig. 202, is a point not without suggestiveness to the
designer; while the fruit form, fig. 204, that succeeds the blossoms, is an equally ornamental
feature.
Variation in the details of a design is a very legitimate means of imparting enhanced
interest to any work. It is much more characteristic, however, of some periods of art than others;
thus, in a Greek temple every Corinthian capital is an exact fac-simile of every other throughout
the building; and the triglyphs that may be seen running round a classic building are, be they
many or few in number, an exact repetition of one form. In some styles of ornament (as, for
instance, Chinese) the opposite is seen; and while there is great risk of monotony in constant
repetition, the other extreme is equally to be deprecated, all harmony and -unity of design being
destroyed by a too persistent variation. The ancient Egyptians, with that fine instinct that charac-
terises so much of their work, avoided either extreme, and preserved similitude in dissimilitude,
preserving unity as an effect in the whole mass, yet with constant variety in the details; the
columns of a temple for instance, not being all alike, though similar in general proportion: thus,
the two columns immediately flanking the entrance are found to be similar, the next to these on
either hand being of a different design to the first, but similar in themselves; number three on
each side being like each other, but unlike numbers one or two; and so on throughout the series.
The same thing is noticeable in a great deal of the best Gothic work, both English and conti-
nental; a due balance and symmetry of the masses of the composition, with continuous variation
of the details when examined more closely. Though the quotations with which we have headed
our remarks on each plate have ordinarily been selected for their own inherent interest, rather than
from any especial appropriateness to the subject-matter with which they chance to be associated,
the present extracts from Pope and Wordsworth have an especial fitness for their place, expressing
so clearly, as they do, the limit which may be safely reached in the use of this art-principle of
variation, and the ideal attained, "where order in variety we see, and where, though all things
differ, all agree."
In the three designs we have based on the Hepatica, the first (fig. 205) is bi-symmetrical,
and is intended as a suggestion for relief work, the remaining two being for surface decoration.
In fig. 206 we have continuous repetition in the form, with variation in the colour, while in the
last example (fig. 207) the alternation is seen both in form and in colour.


AND ORNAMENTAL TREATMENT.
43
ingly small, while the general growth is often ill-adapted for the specific requirements of ornamental
art; in some cases the leaves are very large and coarse, while in others, again, they are so
minutely divided that they are equally non-available.
The remaining sketches call for but slight comment; our readers will, no doubt, perceive
that the design, fig. 219, is intended to be Si-symmetrical, and that only the exigencies of the
space at our disposal have necessitated our giving it in its present unilateral and somewhat
maimed form. Fig. 220 is a simple repeat, at regularly recurring intervals, of a single leaf. Our
designs are necessarily, as we have already pointed out, somewhat simple in character, but the
student reader must not imagine that the simple treatments we here, and from time to time,
introduce, by any means express all that the plant is capable of affording to the designer. We
content ourselves here with slight suggestions; the practical designer should find no difficulty in
adapting much that is herein given to the requirements of specific work, whether calico-printing,
lace, iron-work, or whatever other medium may present itself for treatment.
PLATE 2 7.
"Yet mark'd I where the bolt of Cupid fell—
It fell upon a little Western flower,
Before milk-white, now purple with Love's wound,
And maidens call it1 Love-in-idleness.'"—Shakespeare.
Violets and pansies have, from the associations connected with them, been favourite flowers
with all our poets. Owing to these associations, poetical and legendary, no less than from the inherent
beauty of the flowers, considerable use has been made of them in past art, and the designer will,
therefore, do well to acquaint himself with their structure; and, to assist him in this end, we have
represented two varieties, selecting them as being not so immediately accessible to him as the
common hedge-row Violets or the garden Heart's-ease.
The allusions to this genus amongst the poets are too numerous to quote at any length;
yet some few examples of the affection in which it has been held may not be without interest
Thus Sir Henry Wotton writes—
"Ye violets that first appear,
By your pure purple mantles known,
Like the proud virgins of the year,
As if the spring were all your own."
A reference will also be found in Chaucer's "Assemblie of Ladies." The following lines many
of our readers will, no doubt recall, as occurring in the "Comus" of Milton—
"The shepherds at their festivals
Carol her good deeds loud in rustic lays,
And throw sweet garland wreaths into the stream
Of pancies, pinks, and gaudy daffodils."
Milton also mentions it in his "Lycidas" and "Paradise Lost;" while, not to weary our
readers, we will content ourselves, in conclusion, by quoting the following passage from Spencer—
"Strew me the ground with Daffe-down-dillies,
And Cowslips, and Kingcups, and loved Lillies.
The pretty Paunce
And the Chevisaunce
Shall watch with the fair Fleur-de-Luce."
The name pansy is evidently a corruption from the French pensSe; and Shakespeare
alludes to this in the passage where Ophelia says, "There's pansies—that's for thoughts." The
Viola tricolor, so commonly to be met with in cultivated fields, has many expressive provincial
names, as "Three-coloured Violet," "Three Faces under a Hood," "Herb Trinity," &c. The
latter name we may explain by a quotation from one of the old monkish herbals—"This
flower is but one, in which be three sundrye colours, and yet but one sweete savour. So
God is three distinct persons in one undivided Trinitye, united together in one eternal glory and
divine majestic It is called Herba Trinitatis because it has three colours." The Welsh name,
Llys y Drindod, has the same significance. It is also called the Mam yn gyfraith, or Mother-in-
law; the Danish name, Stifmoder blomst (the Step-mother) having a very similar meaning, the
fancy in each case being that the two large, plain-coloured petals are the new connexions, the
others, more gaily attired, being her own daughters.
The sweet-scented Purple Violet (Viola odorata) may be seen as a bordering in a 16th
century MS. in the collection of the British Museum: it is, like most of the work of that period,
painted in a somewhat too naturalistic manner. It may, also, be found very tastefully embroidered
L


44 PLANTS: THEIR NATURAL GROWTH
t
(temp. Henry VI.) on the hangings in the State bed-room at Haddon Hall; and, again, on a white
tea-cup of Wedgwood-ware in the Ceramic Gallery of the South Kensington Museum. The Field
Pansy (Viola tricolor) forms one of the borders of the "Hours of Henry VII." in the British
Museum.
The V. cornuta, or Horned Violet (represented at fig. 221), is a native of Spain and
Northern Africa, though, from its hardy and perennial nature, and the great ease with which it
may be propagated, it is not uncommonly met with in our gardens, being often used as a bordering,
as it flowers very profusely and remains in blossom during the greater part of the Summer. The
distinctive term (cornuta, or horned) is applied to it on account of the curiously elongated spur;
this member may be very well seen in the side view of the flower, fig, 227, and again in the bud
represented in fig. 225.
Fig. 222 is the natural growth of one of the numerous species of Garden Pansies, the
geometric elevation of the flower being seen in fig. 223. We have introduced it here as affording
a pleasant variation of form. The points of difference, judging as an ornamentist, are, when com-
paring it with the V. cornuta, mainly these :—The flowers, different in colour, are also decidedly more
rounded in character, and having the segments of the calyx much less conspicuously entering into
the general effect of the blossom. The leaves are much larger, so that in this species the stem
appears more clothed with foliage, while the stipules at the base of the leaf-stalks are very much
more conspicuous than such members ordinarily are, and, from their deeply-cut segments, their
size, and the general quaintness of their effect, appear admirably adapted to art treatment The
whole plant would appear to be in an especial degree suggestive to the designer.
PLATE 28.
"Let the earth bring forth grass, the herb yielding seed, and the fruit-tree yielding fruit after his kind, whose seed is in
itself, upon the earth; and it was so. And the earth brought forth grass, and herb yielding seed after his kind, and the tree yielding
fruit, whose seed was in itself, after his kind: and God saw that it was good."—Genesis i. 11, 12.
The Aconitum napellus (Monk's-hood or Wolf's-bane), though apparently really naturalised
in some few localities, is ordinarily to be met with only as a cultivated flower in Britain. It is a
true native of the wooded and mountainous parts of Western Europe, but appears not to have
been known in England until about the reign of Queen Elizabeth. As a garden plant, it possesses,
in addition to its striking character, one great recommendation, as it will grow under the drip of
trees, and in shady spots where most other plants refuse to thrive.
The whole plant is exceedingly poisonous in its nature; every part of it possesses very
virulent properties, though in the root these properties are intensified. The ancients had so great
a dread of it that many superstitious cautions were observed in gathering the herb, that the
gatherer might escape scot-free from the peril involved in the undertaking. The Greeks ascribed
its discovery to Hecate, and its first origin to the foam dropping from the jaws of Cerberus, the
janitor of Hades—points in its mythical history that at least serve to prove their recognition of
its deadly power.
The Monk's-hood is still retained in use as a medicinal plant, though, from its strength,
great care is needed in its employment: it is occasionally used externally as a sedative in neuralgia
and diseases of the heart It is cultivated, together with its allies, A. paniculatum and A. decorum,
in the botanical gardens at Mitcham, in Surrey, for use in medicine.
Fatal accidents have from time to time arisen from the roots having been eaten in mistake
for horse-radish. Turner, one of the old Herbalists, cites a case as a warning at the time of its
introduction into England, and as it still remains no less a warning to all those who at the present
day cultivate the plant in their gardens, we will quote his remarks. "About twenty yeare ago,"
he writes, "certeyne Frenchmen at Antwerp, willing to make a sallet, gathered the rotes of blew
Wolt's-bayne and eat them, but as many as eat of them, died all within two dayes, wherefore
if they had been better learned in the knowledge of herbes, they mighte have avoyded the
hasty death that they come to. Let oure Londiners, which of late have receyved this blew
Wolfs-bayne, otherwise called Monke's-coule, take hede that the poyson of the rote of this herbe
one daye do not more harme, than the freshnesse of the flower have done pleasure in seven years;
let them not saye but they are warned." When once established in the ground it is very difficult
to eradicate it The most potent form of the drug is found in the alkaloid, Aconitina, that by
skilful preparation is procured from the roots; in the case of a man who had eaten some Monk's-
hood root, it was found on analysis that the amount of this alkaloid contained in the bulk he had
with fatal results taken, could not have exceeded five one-hundreths of a grain in weight; the


AND ORNAMENTAL TREATMENT.
45
active principle of this plant is the most deadly known, not even excepting hydrocyanic acid. All
chance of accidental poisoning can be at once removed if the roots of supposed horse-radish are,
after scraping, allowed to have free exposure to the air for a short time; if they are really horse-
radish, little or no change of colour is seen, while, if Monk's-hood, they will speedily turn of a
pinkish-brown colour.
During our Indian wars, the wells and tanks have been repeatedly poisoned on the advance
of our army, by throwing bruised aconite root into them; the natives of India also use a prepara-
tion of the plant to poison arrows with, when hunting the tiger and other wild beasts;—an
application of its powers that has been in vogue since very ancient times, hence the name Wolfs-
bane, and the generic term Aconitum, derived from the Greek word for a dart, in allusion to its
use in rendering still more deadly the weapons of war or of the chase.
The Monk's-hood has a firm and erect stem, from eighteen inches to three feet high; the
leaves are stalked, though those on the upper part of the plant are so slightly so as to appear
almost sessile; all the leaves are of a dark bluish-green, and very glossy in appearance, divided into
three, five, or seven deeply-cut segments, the upper ones being of much simpler outline than the
lower. The inflorescence is racemose, the flowers being large, and of a dark and sombre purple
hue. The calyx, by far the most conspicuous part of the blossom, is composed of five petaloid sepals;
the upper one is semicircular, and from its form, and the way it closes over the others, resembles
a helmet or a monk's cowl; the petals are two to five in number—two, of very abnormal petaloid
form, being contained beneath the hood of the upper sepal, the remaining petals, when present
(which is not always the case), being very small and narrow. The fruit (fig. 230), composed of
three to five carpels, is a quaint and not unornamental feature.
The calyx, though in most cases resembling a little green cup (as in figs. 35, 81, 122, 144,
154, 165, 237, 275, and many other examples), is at times considerably altered both in form and
colour, and may thus prove more difficult of recognition, especially to the beginner. The sepals,
as we have seen already in some earlier remarks, sometimes fall away at the commencement of
flowering, the Corn Poppy is a good example of this; sometimes at the conclusion, as in the
Buttercup, while at other times they are what is botanically termed persistent, and do not
drop off. In this case they either wither up after flowering, as in the Broom (fig. 97),
become fleshy, or, remaining foliaceous, grow larger, and are then said to be accrescent—ex. Winter
Cherry (Physalis Alkekengi). When the calyx is not green it is said to be coloured, since,
botanically, green in such a relationship is not held to be a colour. In all plants in which the
calyx and the corolla are so similar as to be unitedly termed the perianth, the sepaloid parts are
generally as brilliant in colour as the petaloid—ex. Crocus (fig. 111), the White and Orange Lilies,
the Tulip, Crown-imperial, Daffodil, Snowdrop, and many others. In the Wolf's-bane, the calyx,
it may be seen, is purple, while in other plants it is white, crimson, yellow, orange, or blue.
The forms assumed by the calyx are at times as varied as the colours, and as great a deviation
from the typical character; thus, in the Wolf s-bane, the irregular form of the calyx is surmounted
by a very large and cap-like sepal; this form, from its resemblance to a helmet, is called galeate: in
the Primrose or Fuchsia, the calyx is tubular; in the Chickweed, stellate; and numerous other
examples might be added. In some plants the calyx is obviously composed of an aggregation of
distinct parts; in others, from the growing together of these parts, the whole form seems composed
of one piece, as in the Soapwort (Saponaria officinalis).
PLATE 29.
* The soul and nature are attuned together. Something within answers to all we witness without "When I look on the
ocean in its might and tumult, my spirit is stirred, swelled. When it spreads out in peaceful blue waves, under a bright sky, it is
dilated, yet composed. I enter into the spirit of the earth, and this is always good. Nature breathes nothing unkind. It expands,
or calms, or softens us. Let us open our souls to its influences."—Channino.
The Yellow Rattle (Rhinanthus crista-galli) is one of our common plants, being found, at
times, in such abundance in pasture-land as to be really a nuisancc to the farmer. It attains to a
height of one to two feet, the stem being sometimes simple, as in fig. 234, but more generally
branched (fig. 233); it is sometimes spotted with purple. The leaves are in pairs on the stem,
lanceolate in form, and coarsely toothed. The blossoms are arranged in a loosely spicate manner,
springing from the axils of the floral leaves, calyx inflated and four-toothed, as shown in figs. 237,
238, enlarged views of the flower as seen from the side and from above. After the flower has
fallen, and during the ripening of the seeds, the calyx continues to increase in size; the lower
forms, as will be seen in our plate, being much larger than the upper and more recently developed


46
PLANTS: THEIR NATURAL GROWTH
When the fruit is ripe, the seeds rattle within their husky capsule; hence the familiar English
name. It is in some districts known as Cock's-crest; in France, Creste du Cog. The Rattle is a
very variable plant, both in the form of the leaves and the size and number of the blossoms; on these
accounts, the earlier botanists distinguished three or four supposed species; but further observation
of these variations of form does not confirm the ideas of our predecessors, as these peculiarities are
neither constant in themselves nor sufficiently marked to justify the creation of additional species;
and, as the plant is parasitic, adhering to the living roots of the grasses, and other plants of the
meadow, by means of little suckers, there is but little doubt that these trifling variations arise from
greater or less nourishment, and what we may here term accidental or external circumstances, and
do not point to any specific differences in the various plants observed. The plant flowers during
May, June, and July.
The Red Rattle (Pedicular is palustris), an allied species, is another plant well deserving
of the ornamentist's regard, its crimson flowers and very richly cut pinnate leaves rendering
it a very handsome plant It will be found figured in Curtis and several of the other books we
ventured in our opening remarks to direct the attention of the student to (see pp. 12,13); or
better still, in all its natural beauty, in marshy land and watery ditches from May to September.
Both the plants named are to be met with over a very large area of country, being found
throughout Russian Asia and Europe, from the Mediterranean Sea to the Arctic regions. In
Sweden, the farmer judges that the fit time for gathering in his hay has arrived when the seeds of
the Yellow Rattle are heard in their capsules. In looking through a Flora of Iceland for
another purpose, we found the Rhinanthus mentioned, and being at the same time struck with the
great number of other familiar English plants, that enter into the nosegays of the little
Icelanders in their chilly northern home, we make but slight apology for mentioning a few of those
that will be familiar to our readers, viz.—Dog-Violet, Marsh-Marigold, Shepherd's Purse, four
kinds of Buttercups, Water-Cress, Blue Meadow Crane's-bill, Bird's-foot Trefoil, Silverweed,
Tormentil, Wild Strawberry, Water-Avens, Stone-crop, Ivy, Goose-grass, Yellow Bed-straw,
Daisy, Dandelion, Milfoil, Groundsel, Harebell, Forget-me-not, Foxglove, White Dead-nettle,
Purple Dead-nettle, Stinging-nettle; to these, did our space seem to justify it, we might add
many others.
In figs. 235, 239, 240, 241, 242, we have suggestions of the use of the plant in design.
The ornamental treatments that we have from time to time introduced are not by any means the
best of which the plants are capable, as we are here of necessity placed under limitations of space
and simplicity of colour that narrow the scope afforded; still, in the hope that these simple treat-
ments may at least prove suggestive to the designer, we insert them. No. 240, for instance, would
produce a richer effect, if, while preserving the two greens, the ground were made a deep maroon,
the outlines and veins of the leaves being given in gold. Figs. 235, 239, are intended as simple
forms for stencilling; the reader will easily perceive that, in the first of these, the limited space has
prevented our making it bi-symmetrical. Stencilling affords a simple and effective means of
decorating surfaces where great delicacy is not imperative, and where the forms are removed at
some little distance from the eye. The modus operandi is as follows: the design selected is cut
out in a sheet of thin metal, the parts cut away being those that enter into the ornamental form,
so that, on placing the plate on the surface to be decorated, the perforations are brushed over with
a stiff brush, primed with the required colour, and the design is thus transferred at once to the
wall or other flat surface. Copper is the metal ordinarily employed, as it lies more flatly than
brass (which being cheaper is sometimes used), as closeness of contact is an essential point, or the
hairs of the brush will get beneath the edges of the plate, and destroy the sharpness that is so
indispensable in this kind of work. The design is either cut out by the graver, or etched with acid;
very frequently both processes are employed, as the pressure necessarily used with the graver has a
tendency to warp and stretch the plate, while, on the other hand, the acid leaves a ragged edge:
by first etching the forms, however, and afterwards sharpening them by the graver, the maximum
of advantage is gained.
In the designs figured 240, 241, the natural arrangement of the leaves in pairs is the feature
introduced. In fig. 240, the cross-like arrangement of the foliage, as seen in plan, each pair of leaves
being at right angles to the pair above it, is the point utilised, while, in fig. 241, single pairs are
worked up into a diaper, the central spots representing the section of the stem, and the sessile
leaves being seen thrown off on either side. In works on ornament a certain amount of confusion
seems to exist as to what constitutes a diaper, that term and powdering being often used as
synonyms. It appears to us, however, that there is a marked distinction between typical examples
of these two treatments, though undoubtedly there are debatable instances that, partaking of
some of the characteristics of both, are hard to assign rigidly to either: thus, Pugin says that the
term "diaper" signifies a continuous pattern of varied colour, in contradistinction to a detached or


AND ORNAMENTAL TREATMENT.
47
scattered pattern; yet some of the examples he gives as diapers are composed of an aggregation
of detached forms; while Parker defines it as an ornament of flowers applied to a plain surface,
whether carved or painted; if carved, the flowers are entirely sunk into the work below the general
surface—and adds that diapers are usually square and placed close to each other. The true solution of
such a question may often be found by a little study of the etymology of the word under considera-
tion, but in the present case it is but little help to us, as there is a division of opinion, one deriva-
tion being suggested by the small ornaments of this character so freely found on the fabrics made
during the middle ages at YprSs, in Flanders, while another and more probable one is based on
the old French word, diapr£, variegated, or diaspre, a jasper stone. Chaucer speaks of a meadow
diapered with flowers. A diaper, as it appears to us, is the repetition at regular intervals of a form,
such form, though generally floral or foliated, having a geometric basis; the forms may be either in
contact, as in fig. 232, united into one composition by bands or lines of colour, as in figs. 161, 180, 182,
314, 325, or detached, as in figs. 217, 240, so long as the geometric arrangement is felt It does
not appear to us necessary that the pattern should be of varied colour, nor that it should be of
necessity composed of floral forms; grotesque animal forms, monograms, and arbitrary conven-
tionalisms, have all from time to time been employed in forming what we think are entitled to be
considered true diaperings. It is by no means needful that the general bordering lines should
throw the composition into squares, as in fig. 334; hexagons, fig. 323; the rhombus, or diamond,
figs. 183, 241,299,314,324; the equilateral triangle; the semicircle, fig. 347; the vesica, figs, 10i,
325; the* circle, figs. 232, 269, or curved forms of a compound character, figs. 147, 284, 326,
are as legitimate in employment, and frequently more beautiful in effect A powdering we conceive
to be the repetition of a given form at irregular intervals; thus, the grounds of figs. 345, 349, are
illustrations of it, one being powdered in white, the other in blue and gold. Golden stars in a
ceiling are often seen powdered on a ground of blue. The forms employed in diapering and
powdering may be varied, they are not of necessity fac-similes of each other throughout a given
composition; thus, in the stellate powdering we have alluded to, some of the star-like forms may
be larger than others; some may have four points, others five, six, or eight, while, in the more
rigid composition of the diaper, though it is essential that the masses harmonise, the details may
be varied. A diaper, for instance, may be composed of the heraldic rose, thistle, and shamrock,
or the symbolic monogram, chalice, and thorny crown.
Where so vast a field is open to the designer, no rigid line can be drawn—no definition so
carefully worded as to satisfy every case. Hence, while we have given our ideas on the subject,
we feel bound to confess that the student will, no doubt, from time to time, come across examples
that can with difficulty be assigned to either class. We have, however, in the foregoing remarks,
defined what we think to be the true meaning of the terms diapering and powdering, when used
most legitimately in the description of art-work of an ornamental character.
PLATE 30.
"And as for me, though that I konne but lyte,
On bokes for to rede I me delyte,
And to hem give I feyth and ful credence,
And in myn herte have hem in reverence
So hertely that there is game noon,
That fro my bokes maketh me to goon,
But yt be seldom on the holy day,
Save, certynly, when that the monethe of May
Is comen, and that I here the foules synge,
And that the flowres gynnen for to sprynge."—
Chaucer—" Legende of Goode Women."
The genus Centaurea includes several plants of highly ornamental form, and rich in sug-
gestiveness to the designer. We have in the present plate represented two of these (the C. nigra
and the C. Scabiosa), while the others more especially worthy of attention are the C. Cyanus, the
brilliant blue flower found so commonly in the growing corn, and introduced very beautifully in a
16th century MS. in the British Museum, the C. Cakitrapa and the C. solstitialis. The
Black Knapweed (C. nigra) is very abundantly met with throughout Britain in meadows,
pasture-lands, and by the roadsides, and as it flowers throughout the summer, it can easily
be procured at almost any time by any one desirous of studying its natural growth, not
from illustrations, but by the far preferable way—direct appeal to Nature. It presents two
very distinctly marked typical forms, varieties, however, of the same species, as so many
intermediate forms are found between these two that, though the differences are marked enough
M


48
PLANTS: THEIR NATURAL GROWTH
in the two extremes, one passes by these gradations of form so imperceptibly into the other
as to forbid the idea of any specific difference. The following are the leading characteristics,
such features as would strike the ordinarily careful observer, ignoring as foreign to our present aim
more refined differences of structure :—In the C. nigra, var. genuina, the branches are short and
much thickened beneath the flower heads, the florets all equal and in a compact head; in the
C. nigra, var. decipiens, the branches are slender and thicken but very slightly beneath the flower
heads, and are less clothed with leaves than in the preceding, while the most marked difference
is seen in the flower heads, the latter variety having an outer row of large and radiant florets.
The first form is found throughout Britain, and becomes the typical plant in the north, the second
variety, though as abundant in many localities as the other, being confined almost entirely to the
more southern counties. The upper leaves in both varieties are of very simple form, linear
or lanceolate in outline, the lower ones being often (figs. 244, 245) slightly lobed, though in other
cases (fig. 246) the leaves merely broaden, and do not throw out any lateral lobes. The Centaiirea
genus derives its name from a belief in its medicinal effects that was firmly held throughout the
middle ages, it being fabled that the Centaur Chiron cured himself, by means of one of these
plants, of a wound inflicted by Hercules. Country people give them many expressive names, as
in some places they are called Hurt-sickles, from their tough and wiry nature, while in other
localities they are known as Hard-heads or Iron-weeds, in allusion to the very solid mass on which
the florets are set
The C. Scabiosa, or greater Knapweed (fig. 247), though more local than the Black
Knapweed, is not unfrequently found in pastures, hedgerows, and waste ground, though it is rare
in Scotland. It is one of the numerous plants that appear to thrive best on the chalk, and in such
a district it is generally very commonly to be met with. The whole planf is stouter than the
preceding; the stems attain to a height of some three feet, and are considerably branched. The
leaves are firm in texture, and deeply pinnatifid, giving a very rich effect to the plant The
lower leaves are very large, so large that press of space has necessitated our representing one of
them away from the present plate; it will be found on plate VI., fig. 66, though even there we have
been obliged to considerably reduce it from the natural size. The involucral bracts (fig. 248) are
very large, and with a sharply defined black fringe, that gives a markedly ornamental character to
the flower-head. It will be noticed that in this species the stem does not thicken beneath the
flower-head, nor has it the agroupment of small leaves characteristic of that part in the C. nigra.
The overlapping or imbrication (Lat imbrex, a roofing tile) of the bracts of the involucre,
bears a strong likeness to what, from its resemblance to fish scales, is known ornamentally as
the scale-form. The scale-form is composed of a series of semi-circles, arranged as shewn in figs.
218, 347; the decorative effect being produced, either, as in those examples, by the filling in of
foliate forms, or by variation of colour in the scales themselves. It is one of the earliest
ornamental forms and one of the most universal, being found abundantly in every style of
decorative design, in the Egyptian paintings some three thousand years old, throughout the
Ninevite or Assyrian, Persian, and Chinese styles in Eastern art, and in the Norman, Gothic, and
Renaissance periods of Western art, the natural fish scale being doubtless the proto-type.
PLATE 81.
"For many years it has been one of my constant regrets that no schoolmaster of mine had a knowledge of natural history,
so far, at least, as to have taught me the grasses that grow by the wayside, and the little winged and wingless neighbours that are
continually meeting me with a salutation which I cannot answer, as things are. Why didn't somebody teach ine the constellations
too, and make me at home in the starry heavens that are always overhead, and which 1 don't half know to this day? I love to pro-
phesy that there will come a time when, not in Edinburgh only, but in all Scottish and European towns and villages, the schoolmaster
will be strictly required to possess these two capabilities (neither Greek noi Latin more strict), and that no ingenuous little denizen
of this universe be thenceforward debarred from his right of liberty in those two departments, and doomed to look on them as if
across grated fences all his life."—Carlyle.
The Agrimony (Agrimonia Eupatoria), the subject of the present plate, is very commonly
distributed throughout England and Ireland, and more sparingly met with in Scotland. It
flowers throughout the Summer months. From the smallness of the blossoms, it is a plant that
may easily be overlooked in the masses of undergrowth found in the hedgerows, its favourite
habitat Though subject to much variation, both in size and form, it is ordinarily from eighteen
inches to two feet high. The plants vary in the hairiness of the foliage and stem, in the
form of the calyx and the size of the flowers, hence some botanists have been prepared
to divide the present into one or more sub-species, or even to give to some a distinct specific
claim, but the differences do not appear sufficiently marked nor constant enough to justify
their being considered more than accidental variations from the typical form. The yellow


AND ORNAMENTAL TREATMENT.
49
blossoms are loosely and spirally arranged in long, terminal spikes. The petals, five in number,
alternating very pleasingly in form (fig. 250), with the sepaloid masses of the calyx. The
spikes, unlike those of many other plants, are not clothed at all with leaves, but each flower springs
from the axil of a small bract, three or five-cleft, and flanked by two smaller bracteoles; these
bracts may be seen indistinctly in fig. 249, and much more clearly in the enlarged views, figs. 254,
255, 256. The lower leaves of the plant (fig. 258) are large, and have on each side from seven
to nine large lateral leaflets, intermixed with numerous smaller ones, these and the large terminal
leaflet being very coarsely serrated, while the upper leaves, though similar in general character, have
a smaller number of leaflets (fig. 251), and the leaf as a whole is not so large. The calyx during
flowering points upwards, but on the death of the blossom turns downwards, as shewn in our
illustration, rapidly enlarges, and becomes covered at its summit (fig. 253) with a number of
hooked bristles.
"Chaucer speaks of the plant as the "Agremoine," but many old writers term it Philan-
thropos, on account, as some say, of its beneficent medicinal properties, or, according to others,
from its calyces clinging to the clothes of the wayfarer, as if desirous of being his companions in
travel. The generic name, Agrimonia, is a corruption of Argemone, a name given by Greek
Writers to a plant supposed to cure cataract
The Agrimony is one of the most favourite remedies of the old herb doctors, being used
not only in cases where its tonic and febrifugal qualities would really be of service, but also, on
the principle of a good thing never being out of place, in many remedies where its benefits could
only spring from a strong faith in its power: thus, for the relief of haemorrhage a sovereign cure
was compounded of human blood, pounded frogs, and agrimony—a remedy that, were such
diseases at all under the influence of the will, would certainly, from its nastiness, effectually cure
any one, and prevent a repetition of the attack. Another writer, in spreading its fame, explains to
what causes its potency must be attributed; for he tells us that "it is an herb under Jupiter and
the sign Cancer, and strengthens those parts under the planet and sign, and removes diseases in
them by sympathy; and those under Saturn, Mercury, and Mars by antipathy, if they happen in
any part of the body governed by Jupiter, or under the signs Cancer, Sagittary, or Pisces." In
some astrological way, of which the secret would appear to be now lost, he finds it a vermifuge, a
remedy for gout, liver complaints, inward wounds, the biting of serpents, colic, cough, ague,
cancer, deafness, and many other of the ills of mortality, extracting thorns, strengthening the
joints, cleansing, opening, and binding; in fact, it would appear, so varied are its healing powers,
to be as potent as some, at least, of the patent medicines of the present day, and a possession as
valuable to the 15 th century as those are to the 19th.
As we have had occasion to refer at some little length to the bracts of the Agrimony, we
will take the opportunity of explaining the nature of bracteal forms, since, under various modifi-
cations, they are frequently met with, and are frequently features of sufficient importance to become
an element in the treatment of a plant in design. Some little knowledge of their nature will,
therefore, be an advantage to the student
The term bract is applied to the leaves of the floral stem when they differ from the other
leaves in size, shape, colour, or arrangement: they are ordinarily much smaller than the leaves (as
in present example) and sessile. Bracts, though generally green, are not invariably so; thus, in
the Astrantia major, they are white, or tinged with pink; when coloured they ordinarily partake
of the colour of the blossom. The one or two last forms beneath the flower, when differing in
some marked degree in size, or form, or colour from the other bracts, are sometimes termed
bracteoles. Bracteal forms often insensibly merge into the ordinary foliate forms of the plant;
the intermediate forms that, from their position, may be either lower bracts or upper leaves, and
can scarcely be satisfactorily assigned to either class, are often termed leafy bracts or floral leaves.
Bracts are true leaves modified by their position: this may be easily known, not only by a study
of the scarcely perceptible gradation between the two noted above, but also from the fact, that in
many plants the bracts develop into true leaf forms. In some foreign species the floral leaf, in
its transformation into a bract, instead of retaining its foliaceous character, becomes a spine, a
tubercle, or a tendril.
When the floral stems, as in the umbel of the Carrot (Dancus Carota), and the capitulum
or flower head of the Daisy (Bellis perennis), rise from nearly the same point, the ring of bracts
thus formed is called an involucre or involucrum; where, as in many of the umbellate plants, the
umbel is compound—that is to say, where each ray, instead of bearing one flower, has at its summit
a smaller umbel of flowers—the bracts of the lesser umbel form an involucel. In capitulate
growth, as in the Daisy, Dandelion, and other composite flowers, the bracts of the involucrum
form an envelope of several imbricating rows, so that many beginners, thinking of the Dandelion
as one flower, instead of an aggregation of flowers into one head, mistake the involucral bracts


AND ORNAMENTAL TREATMENT.
51
PLATE 33.
"I have been plucking (plants among)
Hemlock, henbane, adder's-tongue,
Nightshade, moonwort, libbard's-bane."
—Jqnson"s Masque of Queenes,
The Deadly Nightshade (Atropa Belladonna), is one of our most striking plants, and
possesses so distinct a character of its own that it cannot by any possibility, when once seen, be
mistaken for any other plant It is not at all a common plant however, and its familiar name
is often erroneously applied to another plant, the Solanum Dulcamara, or Bitter-sweet; though,
as our readers will see on comparing the leaf, flower, and fruit of this last (figs. 276, 277, 278)
with those of the Deadly Nightshade, there is no shadow of resemblance. The Deadly Night-
shade is found on waste land, and more especially amongst ruins; it attains to a height of from
three to four feet The stem is thickly clothed with leaves, these being in pairs, and one
always very much larger than the other. The flowers are solitary, tubular in form, of a lurid
purple colour, and spring from the axils of the leaves. The blossoms are succeeded by berries
that are at first green, but ultimately turn black, and are not unlike a cherry in size and colour;
hence many fatal accidents, as, while the whole plant is poisonous, the berries are especially dele-
terious. The generic name, Atropa, is derived from Atropos, one of the evil destinies or Fates
in classic mythology. The Nightshade is also often called Dwale, and especially by the older
writers,* being derived from the Anglo-Saxon dwal (foolish), in allusion to its stupifying properties,
or, as some say, from the French, deuil, mourning. The Danes call the plant Dwale-bcer, literally,
torpor-berry; in Germany, it is the Tollkraut—the toll, frantic or raving, kraut, herb; while the
specific name, Belladonna, is derived from the Italian language, the meaning being "beautiful
woman." The name originated in the practice of using the plant as a cosmetic, though we should
have imagined that any added beauty thus derived would have been dearly bought In Spain
the plant is known as the Bella dama.
The Dwale is used medicinally. It is narcotico-acrid, and when applied externally to the
eyes, causes great dilation of the pupil—a curious property that has rendered it valuable to oculists
in treating various diseases of the eye: the effect follows in a few minutes after the application,
and remains for some little time. It is a very dangerous plant where it grows within reach of young
children, as the blossoms are somewhat tempting in appearance, and, being sweet to the taste,
have frequently proved the source of much mischief; hence, no doubt, its scarcity, as, when
found, it is often destroyed as a dangerous plant, and the advice of the old herbalist, Gerarde,
is scrupulously followed—" If you will follow my counsell, deale not with the same in any
case, and banish it from your gardens, being a plant so furious and deadly. Banish, there-
fore these pernitious plants out of your gardens, and all places neere to your houses, where children
do resort, which do oftentimes long and lust after things most vile and filthie, and, much more, a
berry of a bright shining black coloure, and of such great beautie."
The Scottish historian, Buchanan, states that the Danes were defeated, or rather destroyed,
by the Scottish troops, under Macbeth, through an act of treachery, ale and bread poisoned by the
juice of the Dwale being sent as a present, during a truce, to the Danish army under Sweno. The
whole story, however, is too dubious in itself, and relates to too mythical a period in Scottish
history to possess much value.
The Woody Nightshade, or Bitter-sweet (Solanum Dulcamara) is a very common hedge-
row plant, its size and trailing habit, the brilliant purple of the blossoms, and the bright crimson of
the mature fruit, rendering it very conspicuous. The stalks, when tasted, have a slightly bitter
flavour, followed by a curious sweetness—a peculiarity pointed out in the specific name Dulcamara
and the familiar English name Bitter-sweet, the French Douce-amere, the Spanish Amaradulcis,
the Italian Dulcamara, the German Bittersusstangel. Though a poisonous plant, it is far less so
than the true Deadly Nightshade. The trailing habit, the clustering flowers, the stellate form of
the individual blossoms, the smallness and brilliant colour of the fruit, and the lobed and halberd-
shaped leaves, are all features that distinguish it very completely from the Atropa Belladonna.
* " There needeth him no dwale"—Chaucer; i.e., no need of any narcotic to provoke sleep.
N


AND ORNAMENTAL TREATMENT.
55
crowned panther. Fig. 303 is a representation of the Columbine; it is taken from Sherbourne,
Dorsetshire : a piece of 14th century work, and an admirable illustration of the due conventionalism
required by reason of the nature of the material in which the design is worked, all the characteristic
effect of the flower being produced without that painful elaboration and sense of labour lost that
must have ensued had a more literal rendering of Nature been attempted . The design, fig. 304,
is a simple repeat, based on the leaf-form represented in fig. 306.
The generic name, Aquilegia, is bestowed upon this plant from a fancied resemblance of the
spur-like member to the claws of an eagle, Lat Aquila, while the familiar English name, Columbine,
is derived from Columba, a dove, the petals clustering together, and presenting very much the appear-
ance of a group of doves or pigeons, as may be very well seen in the flower shown at fig. 300, or in
the enlarged buds marked 307, 308. An old name, now fallen into disuse, is the Culverwort, which,
though very different in sound to Columbine, is very similar in sense, being derived from the
Anglo-Saxon Cul/re, a pigeon.
PLATES 38, 39, 40, 41, 42, 43, 44.
"Surely these are points not wholly uninteresting or uninstructive; they are historical details which many persons may
rationally desire to know, and such as no man ever needs to feel himself ashamed of knowing. If I do not here give him the most
full and satisfactory intelligence on each particular, let it be remembered that at least I neither cut off nor obstruct his way to more
copious sources; on the contrary, I studiously direct the enquirer to further information, wheresoever the opportunity is afforded
me."—COTTON'S Typographical Gazetteer, iSjf.
The remaining plates are more especially devoted to the application of plants to the
purposes of design, and from the general sameness of purpose that runs through them, may very
conveniently be treated as a whole, dealing with them in the order to which our title refers, first
giving some slight description of the natural growth, and secondly, of the ornamental treatment
to which it most readily lends itself, adding to these any subordinate points that nevertheless it
would be well to take the opportunity of mentioning, if they can in any way be shewn to be
helpful to the practical designer.
In fig. 309, the plant selected is the Cratcegus oxycantha, known familiarly as the Hawthorn,
Whitethorn, or May, a tree that at almost all periods has been regarded with affection and interest
By the ancient Greeks and Romans it was adopted as the emblem of Hope. In France it is
called L'Spine noble, from a legendary belief that it supplied the thorny crown of our Saviour;
hence it is affirmed that sounds of sighing are heard proceeding from it on the eve of each Good
Friday. Another legend relates that on the coming to England of St Joseph of Arimathea as a
missionary, he planted his hawthorn staff in the earth one Christmas day, when it immediately
budded and blossomed; a manifest and miraculous proof to the doubting heathen of his sacred
mission. It has also heraldic and antiquarian interest, for after the defeat and death of Richard III.
at Bosworth, the royal crown was hidden by one of his adherents in a hawthorn bush; it was
however soon found, and being carried to Lord Stanley, he placed it on the brow of his son-in-law,
crowning him amidst the exultation of the victorious army, Henry VII., hence the House of Tudor
bore as a badge, a crown and hawthorn bush. It is also one of the earliest plants of Summer, and
Cowley, Pope, Dryden, Chaucer, Milton, Shakespeare, Kirke White, Thomson, and Moore, amongst
other poets, sing its praises. In Scotland it is the badge of Clan Ogilvie. The plant is subject to
considerable variation, both in the form of the leaves and the colours of the blossoms and fruit The
Hawthorn is one of the favourite plants of the carvers of the Decorated period; good examples of
it may be seen at Southwell, Exeter, Winchester, Ely, and Hereford . The present example, fig.
309, is a spandrel from Lincoln Cathedral; though so simple in composition the effect is decidedly
good, and the overlapping arrangement herein introduced may prove a suggestive feature capable
of pleasing introduction in work of more ambitious character.
The Ivy (Hedera Helix), figs. 310, 316, is so familiar a plant that any attempt at describing
it is palpably superfluous; we prefer rather, therefore, to dwell on other features connected with
it It is, like the preceding plant, a great favourite with the Mediaeval carvers, and examples
of its introduction into wood and stone carving of Decorated work are very numerous. Fig. 310 is
a design of our own, while fig. 316 is, like fig. 309, a spandrel from Lincoln. The Ivy is in classic
art dedicated to Bacchus, and an Ivy crown was the reward of the successful poet, while the priests
at marriage festivals presented the newly-wedded pair with a wreath of Ivy, as a symbol of the
closeness of the tie that should bind them to each other. The characteristic features distinguishing
the Ivy at various periods of its growth can scarcely be legitimately ignored, if anything
approaching a naturalistic treatment is attempted . Ivy, when climbing, throws up numerous long
stems, furnished with more or less acutely five-pointed leaves, but when it has arrived at the
o


58
PLANTS: THEIR NATURAL GROWTH
failed in; we shall, therefore, here only describe two processes that have stood the test of repeated
experience, and by which we have obtained perfectly satisfactory impressions.
For the first of these the reader must procure a solution of nitrate of silver in the proportion of
one part of nitrate to fifteen parts of distilled water. With this solution, by artificial light, a piece of
smooth paper must be covered, to be, as soon as dry, carefully put away from the influence of day-
light When a botanical specimen has been procured of which a record is desirable, it must be placed
upon the prepared paper, and, over all, a large sheet of glass, free from spottiness, and heavily weighted
at the corners, as to ensure close contact of the plant and prepared paper; the whole must then be
placed at the window; if the sun's rays fall on it the paper will rapidly turn a rich chocolate brown;
if the sun be not shining the same result will follow, but not so speedily. On this result being
attained, the glass must be lifted off and the plant shaken aside, when its image will be seen in
delicate fac-simile in a pale creamy white on the ground of deep brown, the sun's ray or the
daylight not having been able to more than very slightly influence that part of the paper protected
by the plant As, however, that part where the specimen is impressed is as sensitive to the light
as the rest of the sheet it will rapidly darken unless preserved from its influence; this may be
readily achieved by putting the paper within a large book. On the approach of evening and
gas-light, the impression may be freely examined, as any artificial light will not affect it, but as a
specimen that can only be referred to by lamp-light would prove of but little practical value, it
must be what is technically termed fixed. To effect this, it is only necessary to dip it in a strong
solution of hyposulphate of soda; when a chemical action takes place that at once and for ever
after preserves it from being further affected by daylight, and it can be as freely consulted as
any ordinary drawing. By this process, the richest and most beautiful results may be obtained. It is
especially suited to light and delicate forms, such as ferns and grasses, or finely-cut leaves of any
kind. It is very important to ensure close contact, as if the specimen be in any place raised above
the general surface of the paper, the rays of light will there penetrate beneath it, and at that point
produce an unpleasant blurring that will effectually destroy the sharpness and clearness of the
impression, and thus far render it useless. The more richly cut the leaves are the better, as this
process only gives the general effect of the mass; it does not give the veining of the leaflets; to
secure this, our next process, as follows, must be employed.
Having procured a tube of oil-colour, such as artists use, black, brown, or dark green
being the best, a certain amount of the colour must be squeezed (this quantity can be only
determined by practice) over a sheet of smooth paper, so as, by means of a dabber made of
cotton wool enclosed in fine muslin, to cover the surface with a light and even layer. On this the
leaf of which an impression is desired must be placed and, having loaded the dabber with colour,
the surface of the leaf is then gone over until all the prominent veins have received a light covering
of the pigment The leaf should now be carefully lifted off and placed between two surfaces of
clean and smooth white paper, and a gentle pressure of the hand will suffice to imprint the leaf,
one of the papers having an impression of the front, and the other of the back. When the colour
is dry a wash of green may be laid over it in water-colour, the result being an absolute transcript
of Nature, the veining, texture, and even minute hairs of the surface being given with the most
beautiful fidelity. Leaves with prominent veins, as the Hop, Nasturtium, Plane, Horse-chestnut,
or Foxglove, are most suitable.
In fig. 323, we have a design based on the smaller Celandine, Ranunculus Ficaria. The
treatment is conventional, the points worked out being the multiplicity of blossoms starring the
ground, and the carpeting of leaves so characteristic of the natural plant, the details of leaf and
flower form being much more freely rendered than in fig. 315, a design also based on the same
plant
The White Trefoil or Dutch Clover, Trifolium repens, is the plant employed in our design,
fig. 324, for a diaper for wall decoration. The leaf alone is employed, as the head of flowers,
though pleasing in itself, scarcely, from the minuteness of the parts, lends itself happily to art
treatment The plant is so commonly met with in pasture land, being sown for its excellent
qualities as fodder, that it must be familiar to all those who, from love of plants or appreciation of
beautiful form, will be induced to turn over these pages. In Ireland, it is of comparatively recent
introduction, though now it is often accepted as the national emblem, in place of the Wood-Sorrel
(Oxalis Acetosella), the original Seamrog or Shamrock.
The design, fig. 325, is based on the foliage of the Oriental Plane, Platanus orientalis. The
Plane, though now commonly to be met with, is not an indigenous tree, being, as its name implies,
a native of the East. It may be easily identified, not only by the size and characteristic shape of
its foliage, but by a curious shedding of its ashy grey bark in long thin flakes, exposing large
masses of the yellow wood beneath, a feature that at all times renders it conspicuous. It is one
of the few trees that seem unaffected by a smoky atmosphere, hence it is often planted in the


6o
PLANTS: THEIR NATURAL GROWTH
in the garden of one of our friends in Dean's Yard, beneath the shadow of Westminster Abbey, a
remarkably fine plant of it has been growing for a long time, and as healthy, apparently, in spite
of its curious habitat, as if it grew in the midst of the purest country air. It is quite unknown
how it originally got there, but having made good its footing, it is now scrupulously preserved.
Herefordshire and Worcestershire supply the greater amount, between 300 and 400 tons weight
being transported thence annually to London and other large towns. The supply would appear
to be almost inexhaustible, as in the cider districts it is calculated that from thirty to ninety per
cent of the apple trees yield it Its presence in an orchard is an indication of approaching decay,
and also the not remote cause of a rapid acceleration of it, as it speedily exhausts the branch from
which it springs, and the tree ultimately perishes, overcome in the unequal struggle, and becomes,
to quote Shakespeare—
"Forlorn and lean,
O'ercome with moss and baleful mistletoe."
Besides being found on its favourite tree, the Apple, it occasionally is met with on the
white and black Poplars, Willow, Hawthorn, Lime, Aspen, Alder, Crab, Maple, Mountain Ash,
Hazel, common Ash, and some few other trees; never on the Holly, Cherry, Walnut, or Beech,
and so rarely on the Oak, only some six or seven authentic cases being recorded, that that no
doubt greatly increased the reverence the ancient Britons felt for it, great rejoicings and sacrifices
taking place when the sacred Oak bore this symbolic plant growing in mystical vigour, without
taint or contact of the earth. From this early association with the solemn Druidic rites, the plant
has been excluded from Church decoration; to compensate however for this, it is one of the most
welcome plants that deck the dwelling at Christmas, having a wealth of meaning that its compeers,
the ruddy Holly, the Ivy, and gloomy Yew, cannot emulate. In some parts of the country it is
customary for the people, who have sufficient faith in it, to go out on New Year's Eve, and gather
a bough to be hung up at the midnight hour, to ensure good fortune in the opening year.
Fortunately the commonest, that found on the Apple, is held to be most efficacious, though that
from the Poplar is almost equal to it in virtue
.
The remaining designs, based on various foliate and floral forms, call for but little comment
Figs. 332, 334, are repeating diapers founded on the square, and filled with Trefoil and Ivy-like
leaves; the design between them, fig. 333, complete in itself, is suggested by the Maple leaf
and fruit Fig. 335 is founded on the alternate growth seen in many leaves, ex. Water Cress
(Nasturtium officinale); Hedge Mustard (Sisymbrium officinale); Mignonette (Reseda lutea); Wood
Vetch (Vicia sylvatica). Fig. 336 is suggested by the form of leaf-growth termed verticillate, as
in the Goose-grass (Galium aparine), or the Woodruff (Asperula odorala); while the remaining
illustrations on plate XLIII. are derived from various treatments of opposite leaf growth. Fig.
337, with its variation in the size of the segments, has its natural type in such leaves as the
Agrimony (Agrimonia Eupatorium); the Meadow-Sweet (Spiraea Ulmaria); or the Silverweed
(Potentilla anserina). The feature seen in fig. 339, the pairing of leaves of different sizes, is seen
naturally in the Dwale (Atropa Belladonna); while the opposite growth of leaves alike in each
pair,as shown in figs. 338, 340, is the commonest form of all in Nature; the Pimpernel (Anagallis
arvensis); Red Dead-Nettle (Lamium purpureum); the Ragged Robin (Lychnis fios-cuculi); the
Privet (Ligustrum vulgare); Moneywort (Lysimachia nummularia); and Germander Speedwell
(Veronica Chamcedrys), are but a few examples.
The illustrative designs on plate XLlV. are based on various forms of leaves, lobed, as in
figs. 341, 346; radiate, as in figs. 345, 347; sagittate, as in fig. 342; palmate, as in figs. 348,
350; cordate, as in fig. 349.
In the introduction of any vegetable form into ornament, the leading lines should (fig.
345) be clearly represented. It is often a good feature to let the ornament spring from the
bounding form, as in figs. 341, 350, hence Early English stonecarving is superior in effect to
Decorated; as, in the first, all the forms introduced can be traced to their origin, and spring from
one of the enclosing mouldings, while, in the second period, the foliage is wreathed around the
capitals in a way that suggests accidental adhesion, rather than vigorous offshoots of growth. All
good treatment of natural forms is to a certain extent conventional, and influenced by the position
the design is to occupy. Nature must not be merely applied. In all good periods of ornamental
art it will be found that certain modifications have become necessary to fit the natural forms for
their new purpose, the nearer the approach to the pictorial the less are they fitted to enter into a
decorative scheme. The distinction drawn between fine and decorative art is a very just one,
though we are not prepared to admit the necessary inferiority of the latter, a point too commonly
assumed as proved. Each has its legitimate function and its independent sphere. We need not
here dwell at any length on the principles of ornamental art, as we have already done so in other
works, and it does not seem advisable to repeat here matters already dwelt upon; besides, the


AND ORNAMENTAL TREATMENT.
61
student will find in such authors as Owen Jones, Dresser, and others, these matters very fully
handled; we have, therefore, in the present work, striven rather to occupy ground not so fully
pre-occupied. Such a work as this should, however, if rightly viewed, be regarded only as a
means to an end, and that end the individual study of Nature itself. It has been our desire to
produce a book that should prove sufficiently suggestive to the reader to lead him to study farther
for himself, and certainly not to rest wholly on our labours. It is too much the custom with many
manufacturers to recklessly appropriate the ideas of others; too much the fashion with many
designers to tread closely in the footsteps of those who, by a successful idea, have diverted
thought in that direction. It has not been our aim to produce a series of designs that might be,
at slight expenditure of thought or labour, adapted to various commercial purposes, but rather to
refer manufacturers and designers alike to that wealth of fancy that may be so readily developed
and utilised by a consideration of the beauty and wealth of Nature, and by an adaptation to
ornamental purposes of those general principles of plant growth, and those varied details that
repay a closer study, that would render the work produced at once more novel in conception and
more beautiful in effect than would probably be the result of a merely modified treatment of some
idea that, once novel and possibly good, has long since got too well-worn to be able to claim any
credit on the first score, while even its recurring goodness, assuming that it possesses it, is, after
all, not wholly desirable, since it usurps the place that some other equally beautiful and fresher form
might have taken, and imposes a narrowness of scope that the abundant wealth of floral beauty does
not justify.
In presenting to our readers a series of drawings of natural plants, and endeavouring to aid
them by suggestions of their use in design, we have, we trust, in some measure supplied a
want, since, though there are many excellent standard works on Botanical Science, many equally
excellent standard works on Ornamental Art, there are but few, so far as we are aware, that endea-
vour to show the relationship existing between them. Should our work, by its utility, prove that
we have in some measure reached our ideal, our labours, pleasant as they have been in themselves,
will have that pleasure greatly enhanced by the knowledge that others besides ourselves have found
them of interest and profit; that we have thus been in some small way instrumental both in
inculcating a greater taste for natural beauty, and in aiding incidentally the spread of the beautiful
in art With all its failings—and in no mock modesty do we exaggerate them—our work has been
throughout a labour of love, and with a feeling of real regret do we find it drawing to its close.
If we have failed in causing this feeling to be shared at all by our readers, it will, we trust, be
considered no disparagement to our subject, it will only shew that fair Nature has been unfortunate
in her self-appointed spokesman, in that we have failed to convey to others the sense of delight
that her study is nevertheless able so richly to afford.





LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS.
The Drawings here marked (*) have been designed by the Author as Illustrations of Ornamental
treatment of the respective Plants. Decorative treatments that are not so marked are from
Mediceval and other sources.
PLATE I.
i. Stapelia Hystrix: Section of the Stem—enlarged.
2, 3) 4, S, 6, 7. Transition from sepaloid to staminoid
forms in the Snowdrop.
8. Section of Ovary— Vellozia elegans—enlarged.
9. Galanthus nivalis, Snowdrop: natural growth of the
plant
10. Snowdrop: plan of interior of flower.
11. Snowdrop: plan of exterior of flower.
12. Snowdrop: normal sepaloid form.
13. Snowdrop: normal petaloid form.
14. Perianth of Tulip.
15. Section of Ovary of the Primrose—Primula vulgaris—
enlarged.
16. Section of Shaft: Dorchester, Oxon.
17. Section of Ovary of the Snowdrop, G. nivalis—enlarged.
PLATE. II.
18. Flower of the Periwinkle— Vinca major.
19. Flower of Pelargonium tomeniosum—enlarged.
20. Flower of the Lily of the Valley—Convallaria majalis
—enlarged.
21. Side view flower of the Potato—Solanum tuberosum—
enlarged.
22. Natural growth of the Mullein—Verbascum Thapsus.
23. Flower of the common Avens—Geum urbanum—
enlarged.
24. Flower of Silverweed—Potentilla anserina—enlarged.
25. Flower of the Viola tricolor.
26. Flower of the Elder—Sambucus nigra—enlarged.
PLATE III.
27. Plan of young plant of the Sunflower—Helianthus
annuus.
28. Flower of the Daffodil—Narcissus pseudo-narcissus.
29. Flower of the Corn-cockle—Agrostemma githago—
enlarged.
30. Flower of the Chinese Lantern plant—Dielytra spectabilis
—enlarged.
31. Flower of the Hairy St John's Wort—Hypericum
hirsutum—enlarged.
32. Section of stem of Aspidospermum excelsum.
33. 34. Leaves of the Hedge Mustard—Sisymbrium officinale.
35. Flower of White Dead-nettle—Lamium album—
enlarged.
PLATE IV.
36. Leaf of the Sycamore—Acer Pseudo-platanus.
37. Leaf of the Pelargonium zonale.
38. Leaf of the Corn Convolvulus—Convolvulus arvensis.
39. Flower of the Sweet William—Dianthus barbatus—
enlarged.
40. Leaf of the Evening Primrose—(Enothera biennis.
41. Leaf of the Ginkgo—Salisburia adiantifolia.
42. Leaf of the Coltsfoot—Tussilago farfara.
43. Leaf of the Black Bryony—Tamus communis.
PLATE V.
44. Section of shaft: Rochester Cathedral.
45. Section of shaft: Oxford Cathedral.
46. 47. Shafts sections: Rochester Cathedral.
48. Opening bud of Sycamore—Acer pseudo-platanus.
49. Section of shaft: Canterbury Cathedral.
50. Young shoot of Lilac—Syringa vulgaris.
S1, 52, S3, S4, 55- Gradation from scale to leaf form in
Lilac.
56. Section of stem of the Sedge—Carex vulpina.
57. Section of stem of the Water Plantain—Alismaplantago.
58. Section of stem of the Meadow-sweet—Spircea ulmaria.
59. Opening bud of Sycamore—Acer pseudo-platanus.
60. Section of stem of the Elder—Sambucus nigra.
61. Section of stem of the White Dead-Nettie—Lamium
album.
62. 63. Leaves of the Shepherd's Purse—Capsella bursa-
pastoris.
64. Plan of young plant of the Radish—Raphanus sativus.
65. Section of shaft: Roche Abbey.
PLATE VI.
66. Leaf of the Greater Knapweed—Centaurea scabiosa.
67. Leaf of Corn Marigold—Chrysanthemum segetum.
68. Leaf of Begonia suffruticosa.
69. 70, 71, 72. Leaves of the Ivy-leaved Speedwell— Veronica
hederifolia.
73. Leaves of the Sarracenia Jlava.
74. Leaf of the Daisy—Bellis perennis.
75. Leaf of the Harebell—Campanula rotundifolia.
76. Leaf of Begonia Wetoniensis.
11. Leaf of Maranta pardina.
PLATE VII.
78. Musk Mallow—Malva moschata—natural growth of
plant
79. Flower of Musk Mallow—back view.
80. Floral form from Gothic, tile: Chertsey Abbey.
81. Bud of the Musk Mallow.
82. Upper leaf of Musk Mallow.
83. Flower of the Common Mallow—Malva Sylvestris.
84. Floral form from Gothic tile: Chertsey Abbey.
85. Lower Leaves of Musk Mallow.
86. Flower of Musk Mallow: front view.
Q


LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS.
63
186, 187. Plan views—front and back—of the expanded
flower.
188. * Design based on the Blue Meadow Crane's-bill.
189. Lower leaf of the Meadow Crane's-bill.
190. Flowering head—natural growth.
PLATE XXIII.
191. Leopard's-bane—Doronicum Pardalianches—natural
growth.
192. Lower leaf of the Leopard's-bane.
193. 194, 195. Front, side, and back views of flower-head:
Leopard's-bane.
PLATE XXIV.
196. Front view of flower of Hepatica triloba.
197. Normal form of leaf—Hepatica triloba.
198. 199. Side views of the flower.
200. Leaf of Hepatica—abnormal.
201. Back view of Hepatica flower.
202. Unfolding leaf—Hepatica.
203. Front view—abnormal—of Hepatica flower.
204. Fruit of the Hepatica.
205. * 206,* 207.* Designs based on the Hepatica triloba.
PLATE XXV.
208. Corn Crowfoot—Ranunculus arvensis—natural growth.
209. Detached segment of the fruit
210. 2n. Leaves, showing the variety of form in the plant
212,* 213.* Designs based on the Corn Crowfoot
214. One of the lower leaves of the plant
215, 216. Front and back views of the Corn Crowfoot
flower.
PLATE XXVI.
217. Erodium manescavi—natural growth of plant
218, * 219,* 220.* Designs based on the E. manescavi.
PLATE XXVII.
221. Natural growth of the Viola cornuta.
222. Garden Pansy—natural growth.
223. Front view of flower: Garden Pansy.
224. Detached leaf and stipules of the V. cornuta.
225. Side view: bud of V. cornuta.
226. 227. Front and side views of flower—V. cornuta.
PLATE XXVIII.
228. Monk's-hood—Aconitum Napellus—natural growth.
229. Leaf of the Monk's-hood.
230. Form of fruit of the Monk's-hood.
231. One of the upper leaves of the Monk's-hood.
232*. Design based on the leaf of the Monk's-hood.
PLATE XXIX
233, 234. Common Rattle—Rhinanthus crista-galli—natural
growth.
235. * Design, for stencilling, based on the Rattle.
236. Front view of Rattle flower.
237. 238. Side and plan views of Rattle flower—enlarged.
239. * Design, for stencilling, based on the Rattle.
240, * 241,* 242.* Designs suggested by the Rattle.
PLATE XXX
243. Natural growth of the Centaurea nigra.
244, 245, 246. Detached leaves of C. nigra.
247. Greater Knapweed—Centaurea Scabiosa—natural
growth.
248. Involucre of the Greater Knapweed.
PLATE XXXI.
249. Herb Agrimony — Agrimonia Eupatorium — natural
growth.
250. Plan of flower—enlarged—front view.
251. One of the upper leaves of the plant
252. Plan of flower—enlarged—back view.
253. Ripening fruit of Agrimony.
254. 255, 256. Forms of bractea at base of flowers.
257. * Design based on the Agrimony.
258. One of the lower leaves of the plant
PLATE XXXII.
259. 260. Natural growth of the Lamium tnaculatum.
261, 262. Upper and lower leaves of the plant
263. Section of the stem.
264. * Design based upon the leaves of the L. tnaculatum.
265. 266. The flower—side view—enlarged.
267. Front view of the flower.
268. Side view of bud.
269. * Design based on plan view of inflorescence.
270. * Design based on elevation view of plant
PLATE XXXIII.
271. Deadly Nightshade—Atropa Belladonna — natural
growth.
272. Fruit of the Deadly Nightshade.
273. Back view of fruit : shewing calyx.
274. Deadly Nightshade in flower.
275. Opening flower of the Deadly Nightshade.
276. 277, 278. Flower, fruit, and leaf of the Woody Night-
shade—Solanum Dulcamara.
PLATE XXXIV.
279. Linum flavum—natural growth of the plant
2S0, 281. Side views of bud and expanded flower.
282. Shining Crane's-bill — Geranium lucidum — natural
growth.
283, * 284.* Designs based on the Shining Crane's-bill
285. * Design based on the Linum Jlavum.
PLATE XXXV.
286. Foxglove—Digitalis purpurea—natural growth.
287. Front view of flower.
288. Back view of opening bud.
289. Back view of flower.
290. Side view of flower.
291. Front view of bud.
292. One of the lower leaves of the plant
293. 294, 295. Back, side, and front views of the calyx.
PLATE XXXVI.
296. Aster Alpinus—natural growth of plant
297/ 298,* 299.* Designs based on the Aster Alpinus.


66
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS.
PLATE XXXVII.
300. Columbine—Aquilegia vulgaris—natural growth.
301. Fruit of the Columbine.
30a. One of the upper leaves of the Columbine.
303. Mediaeval carving of Columbine: Sherbourne, Dorset
304. * Design based on the leaves of the Columbine.
305. Plan view of interior of flower—enlarged.
306. One of the lower leaves of the plant
307. 308. Side views—enlarged—of the bud.
PLATE XXXVIII.
309. Mediaeval carving of Hawthorn—Cratatgus oxycantha
—Lincoln.
310. * Design based on the Ivy—Hedera Helix.
311. * Design based on the Horse Chestnut — sFsculus
hippocastanum.
312. Stone Crop—Sedum acre—natural growth of plant
313. * 314.* Designs based on the Stone Crop.
315. * Design based on the Lesser Celandine—Ranunculus
Ficaria.
316. Mediaeval carving of Ivy—Hedera Helix—Lincoln.
317. Mediaeval embroidery: Haddon Hall; the Stone
Crop—Sedum acre.
PLATE XXXIX.
318. Mediaeval carving: Chichester.
319. Mediaeval carving: Southwell; the White Bryony—
Bryonia dioica.
PLATE XL.
320. * Design based on the Cinquefoil—Potentilla reptans.
321. * Design based on the Thorn Apple—Datura Stra-
monium.
322. * Design based on the Common Poppy—Papaver
Rhaeas.
323. * Design based on the Lesser Celandine—Ranunculus
Ficaria.
PLATE XLI.
324. * Design based on the White Clover—Trifolium repens.
325. * Design based on the Oriental Plane — Platanus
orientalis.
326. * Design based on the Horse Chestnut—sEsculus
hippocastanum.
PLATE XLI I.
327. Mediaeval conventionalism of vegetable form.
328. * Design based on the Cuckow-pint—Arum maculatum.
329. * „ „ Corn Poppy—Papaver Rhceas.
330. * ,, „ Dog Rose—Rosa canina.
331. * ,, Mistletoe—Viscum album.
S32*
333- *
334- *
335- *
336- »
337 *
338*
339-*
34o*
PLATE XLIII.
Design based on the White Clover—Trifolium repens.
„ „ Maple—Acer campestre.
„ „ Ivy—Hedera Helix.
Design based on alternate growth of leaves.
Design based on verticillate growth of leaves.
Design based on interruptedly-pinnate growth of
leaves.
Design based on opposite growth of leaves.
Design based on irregular growth of opposite leaves.
Design based on opposite growth of leaves.
PLATE XLIV.
341. * Alternation of form as a principle in ornament
342. * Radiation as a principle in ornament
343. * The ornamental use of the spiral line.
344. * The patera form in ornament
345. * The ornamental use of the waved line.
346. * 347,* 348.* Repetition of forms as an ornamental
principle.
349,* 350.* The ornamental use of the spiral line.


GENERAL INDEX.
"So essential did I consider an Index to be to every book, that I proposed to bring a Bill into Parliament to deprive an
author who publishes a book without an index of the privilege of copyright, and, moreover, to subject him to a pecuniary penalty."—
Campbell's Lives of the Chief Justices of England.
Abnormal root forms, 29.
Acanthus, 54.
Acer campestre, 15, 22, 35.
Acer pseudo-platanus, 11, 13, 19.
Acicular form of leaf, 10.
Accrescent form of calyx, 45.
Achillea millefolium, 39.
Aconitum decorum, 44.
Aconitum JVapellus, 44.
Aconitum paniculatum, 44.
Acorn, a kind of nut, 22.
Adherence of ornamentatists to a few
set forms, 3.
Adiantum Capillus-Veneris, 14.
sEsculus Hifpocastanum, 14, 19, 56.
Esthetic art, 5.
sEthusa Cynapium, 15, 26, 52.
Agaricus muscarius, 38.
Agaricus personatus, 38.
"Agremoine" of Chaucer, 49.
Agrimonia Eupatorium, 19, 48, 60.
Agrimony, 4, 8, 12, 48, 60.
Agrostemma Githago, 9.
Alder, 60.
Alehoof, 32.
Alisma Plant ago, 15.
Almond, 24.
Alpine daisy, 53, 54.
Alpine milk-vetch, 27.
Alternate arrangement of leaves, 11.
Althea rosea, 18.
Alyssum spinosum, 23.
Amentum form of inflorescence, 20.
American water-weed, 11.
Amygdalus communis, 24.
Amygdalus Persica, 22.
Arucharis alsinastrum, 11.
Anagallis arvensis, 11, 60.
Anemone Pulsatilla, 5.
Angular form of leaf, 10.
Annulate type of root, 29.
Anthemis nobilis, 39.
Aphelandria Leopoldii, 17.
Apple, 11, 12, 60.
Aquilegia vulgaris, 21, 54.
Arrangement of leaves, 4.
Arrowhead, 10.
Artemesia campestris, 59.
Art Library, South Kensington Museum,
12.
Arum maculatum, 10, 50, 59.
Ash, 12, 13, 15, 22, 60.
Asparagus, 13.
Aspen, 60.
Asperula odorata, 60.
Asphodel, 29.
Aspidospermum excelsum, 9, 15.
Aster Alpinus, 20, 50, 53.
Aster alwartensis, 53.
Astragalus Alpinus, 27.
Astragalus hypoglottis, 28.
Astrantia major, 49.
Atropa Belladonna, 16, 19, 33, 51, 60.
Attachment of certain plants to particu-
lar geological formations, 41.
Autumn plants, characteristic, 16.
Autumnal foliage, suggestive in colour,
i7, 37, 52-
Avena sativa, 19.
Avens, common, 7.
Avens, water, 4, 34, 36, 46.
Axillary inflorescence, 19.
Bacon, essay on gardens, 28.
Badge of Clan Forbes, 21.
Badge of Scotland, 25.
Badges, heraldic, 54, 59.
Baffiner, 22.
Balsam, 15.
Baneberry, 56.
Banyan tree, 29, 35.
Barton, on Evening Primrose, 14.
Barton, on floral seasons, 36.
Bassinet, 28.
Beech, 60.
Begonia suffruticosa, 16.
Begonia Wetoniensis, 16.
Bellisperennis, 10, 16, 20, 39, 49, 53.
Ben Jonson, quotation from, 54.
Bentham, "British Flora," 13.
Berry or Bacca, form of fruit, 22.
Bifid form of leaf, 11.
Bifurcated form of leaf venation, 1 a.
Bilabiate form of corolla, 10.
Bird's-foot trefoil, 46.
Bittersweet 51.
Bi-symmetrical arrangements in nature
and art, 7.
Bi-symmetrical character of leaves, 16.
Blackberry, 17, 22.
Black bryony, 10, 14.
Black knapweed, 47.
Black medick, 27.
Black poplar, 60.
Blackthorn, 8, 22.
Bladder senna, 22.
Blotched leaves of the Sycamore, 13.
Blotched or spotted leaves of orna-
mental value, 10.
"Blue-bell" of Scotland, 30.
Bog pimpernel, 42.
Boletus edulis, 38.
Book illustrations not always reliable,
57-
Books to consult on plants, 12.
Borage, 5.
Botanical terms, knowledge of, 4.
Box, 11.
Bracteal forms, 49.
Bramble, 17, 37.
Bristly-flowered Stapelia, 6.
"British Flora," Bentham, 13.
British Museum, tiles at, 18.
Broad-leaved everlasting pea, 33.
Broom, 19, 21, 22, 27, 28, 30, 45.
Bryonia dioica, 14, 18.
Buds, suggestive ornamental forms, 14.
Bulbous crowfoot, 4, 17, 28, 41.
Bull's-foot, 14.
Burns, the thistle, 25.
Bush vetch, 4, 19, 20, 22, 27.
Butterbur, 19.
Buttercup, 5, 28, 30, 39, 40, 45, 46.
Butomus umbellatus, 19, 42.
Jinx us sempervirens, 11.
Cacti, stems of, 52.
Caducous type of calyx, 10.
Calathea Zebrina, 17.
Calcarate form of corolla, 10.
Caltha palustris, 5.
Catystegia sepium, 13, 19.
Calyx, its colours, form, and use, 10, 45.
Campanulate form of corolla, 10.
Campanula glomerata, 29.
Campanula hederacea, 30.
Campanula rapunculoides, 30.
Campanula Rapunculus, 30.
Campanula rotundifolia, 16, 30.
Caoutchouc, whence derived, 35.
Capsule form of fruit, 22.
Carduus acaulis, 25.
Cat dims la mail at us, 25.
Carduus Marianus, 22, 25.
Car ex vulpina, 15.
Carpels, example of, 41.
Carrot, 8, 29, 49.
Castor-oil plant, 10.
Cat's-foot, 32.
Celandine, 19, 31.
Celandine, lesser, 8, 31, 56.
Celtic art zoomorphic, 3.
Centaurea Cakitrapa, 47.
Centaurea Cyanus, 16, 39, 47.
Centaurea nigra, 47.
Centaurea Scabiosa, 16, 47.
Centaurea solstitialis, 47.
Central line of leaf terminating in point,
10.
Cephalotus, pitcher plants, 17.
Cerasus communis, 19.
Charophyllum temulentum, 52.
Chamomile, 39.
Characteristic autumn plants, 16.
Chaucer, love of Nature, 47, 53.
Chaucer, the pansy, 43.
Cheddar pink, 30.
Cheiranthus Cheiri, 22.
Chelidonium majus, 19, 31.
Chemical nature-printing, 58.
Cherry, 19, 22, 60.
Chertsey Abbey tiles, 18, 32.
Chickweed, 45.
Chicory, 39.
Chinese lanter n plant, 10.
Christmas rose, 56.
R


68
GENERAL INDEX.
Christ's-thorn, 22.
Chrysanthemum, garden, 39.
Chrysanthemum segetum, 16, 20, 39.
Cichorium Intybus, 39.
Cinquefoil, 56.
Ciraza Lutetiana, 9.
Circinate growth, henbane, 26.
Circinate vernation of ferns, 14.
Circular stem-sections, 15.
Clan Ogilvie, badge of, 55.
Classification of plants, 38.
Clavaria Amethystina, 38.
Clavaria fusi/ormis, 38.
Clavaria rugosa, 38.
Claytonia perfoliata, 9.
Clusia, ffirial roots of, 29.
Clustered bell-flower, 30.
Cock's-crest, 46.
Colour of autumn foliage, 37.
Colchicum autumnale, 11, 21.
Coleman's "Woodlands, Heaths, and
Hedges," 13.
Coleridge on Love of Nature, 29.
Colour of calyx, 5.
Colt's-foot, 10, 12, 14, 17, 24, 39.
Columbine, 4, 21, 22, 30, 54, 55.
Columbine in ornamental art, 54.
Coma rum palustre, 36.
Comfrey, 11, 34.
Common vetch, 27.
Composite type of flower, 39.
Compound form of umbel, 19.
Compound leaves, n.
Cone form of fruit, 22.
Conical form of root, 29.
Conium macuiatum, 12, 19, 52.
Convallaria majalis, 8.
Convolvulus arvensis, 10, 13, 20.
Corchorus capsularis, 35.
Cordate form of leaf, 10.
Corn blue-bottle, 39.
Corn cockle, 9.
Corn convolvulus, io, 13, 20.
Corn crowfoot, 28, 41.
Corn marigold, 16, 39.
Corn poppy, 45.
Corn rose, 57
"Comocopio" of Pollinius, 53.
Corylus Avellana, 22.
Coronet form of inflorescence, 19.
Cotton plant, 18.
Cotton thistle, 26.
Coughwort, 14.
Cowper, God in Nature, 42.
Cowper, characters of trees, 34.
Crane's-bills, 37, 38.
Crataegus oxycantha, 55.
Crenate form of leaf outline, 12.
Crenulate form of leaf outline, 12.
Crimson clover, 27.
Crimson grass-vetch, 27.
Crocus aureus, 24, 45.
Crocus luteus, 23, 24, 39, 45.
Crocus minimus, 24, 45.
Crocus nudiflorus, 24, 45.
Crocus vermis, 24, 45.
Cross-leaved heath, u.
Crowfoot, 4, 27.
Crown Imperial, 45.
Cuckow-pint,. 10, 50, 59.
Culverwort, 30, 55.
Currant, 22.
Curtis, " Flora Londinensis," 12, _|6.
Cuscuta Europiza, 20.
Cuviera, thorny petals of, 23.
Cyme form of inflorescence, 20.
Dandelion, 7, 20, 39, 40, 46, 49.
Daffodil, 9, 45.
Dahlia, 29, 39.
Daisy, 7, 10, 16, 17, 20, 39, 40, 46, 49,
S3-
Danish name for Viola tricolor, 43.
Date, 22.
Datura Stramonium, 21, 57.
Daucus Carota, 15, 49.
Deadly nightshade, 16, 26, 51.
De Candolle on the causes of unsym-
metrical leaves, 16.
Decompound form of leaf, 12.
Decorated period of Gothic, 13.
Decurrent type of leaf, 11.
Definition of diaper, 46, 47.
Dehiscent form of fruit, 21.
Delphinium Ajacis, 5.
Dentate form of leaf outline, 12.
Dentulate form of leaf outline, 12.
Dianthus Armeria, 9.
Dianthus barbatus, 10, 13.
Diapers and powderings, their nature,
46, 47-
Dielytra spectabilis, 9, 10.
Digitalis purpurea, 22, 32, 53.
Disecious plants. 18.
Dipsacus sylvestris, 20.
Distinction between fine and decorative
art, 60.
Distribution of species, 42.
Doctrine of signatures, 30, 31, 53.
Dodder, 20.
Dog-rose, 23, 59.
Dog-violet, 46.
Doronicum Pardalianchcs, 20, 38.
Dove's-foot crane's-bill, 37.
Drupe form of fruit, 22.
Drying plants for reference, 57.
Dunbar, "Thrissill and the Rois," 25,
26.
Dusky crane's-bill, 37.
Dutch clover, 28, 58.
Dwale, 16, 19, s 1, 60.
Dyer's green-weed, 27.
Economic botany, its scope, 38.
Elder, 8, 15, 34.
Elecampane, 39.
Elm, 16, 37.
Enchanter's nightshade, 9.
"English Botany," Sowerby, 13.
Enjoyment to be derived from study of
Nature, 3.
Entire form of leaf outline, 12.
Epiphytes, 29.
Erica Tetralix, 11.
Erodium Manescavi, 42.
Erose form of leaf outline, 12.
Eschscholtzia Californica, 10.
Etserio form of fruit, 22.
Evening primrose, 9, 10, 14.
Evening star, 14.
Everlasting pea, 20, 22, 50.
Exstipulate plants, 33.
Fairy's petticoat, 53.
Fairy's thimble, 53.
Fairy-cap, 53.
Fasciculate form of inflorescence, 20.
Fasciculate form of root, 29.
Fasciculate growth of leaves, 11.
Fennel, 19.
Ferns, venation of, 12.
Ferns, vernation of, 14.
Fibrous form of root, 29.
Eicus Carica, 20, 34.
Eicus elastica, 35.
Eicus Indica, 35.
Eicus religiosa, 35.
Eicus Sycamorus, 13, 35.
Field Artemesia, 59.
Field pansy, 44.
Fig, 20, 34, 35.
Figuier, " Vegetable World," 13.
Filbert, 22.
Fine and decorative art, 60.
Finger flower, 53.
Fir, 10, 11.
Fitness of natural forms for art adapta-
tion, 3.
Five, as a basis of floral parts, 9.
Flax, 18, 52.
"Flora Londinensis," of Curtis, 12, 46.
Floral organs occasionally spinescent,
Flowering rush, 19, 42.
Fluted or grooved stems, 52.
Fluted stem sections, 15.
Foal's-foot, 14.
Eoeniculum vulgare, 19.
Follicular form of fruit, 21.
Fool's-parsley, 15, 52.
Forget-me-not, 46.
Four, as a basis of floral parts, 9.
Foxglove, 6, 22, 30, 32, 46, 50, 53, 58.
Eragaria vesca, 36.
Eraxinus excelsior, 15, 22.
French bean, 20.
Frog's-foot, 28.
Fruit forms, 21.
Fruits, multiple forms of, 22.
Fruits, simple forms of, 22.
Function of scales, 14.
Functions of the root, 29.
Eungi, as studies of colour, 38.
Fungoid growth on leaves, 13.
Furze, 21, 27, 28.
Fuschia, calyx of, 45.
Fusiform type of root, 29.
Galanthus nivalis, 19.
Galeate form of calyx, 45.
Galium Aparine, 11, 20, 60.
Galium Mullugo, 11.
Galium verum, 19.
"Garden of pleasant flowers," Parkin-
son, 14.
Garden parsley, 26.
Garden ranunculus, 28.
Garlic, 30.
Genista tinctoria, 27.
Geometry in ornamental art, 6, 15.
Geranium wlumbinum, 37.
Geranium dissectum, 37.
Geranium lucidum, 37, 52.
Geranium molle, 37.
Geranium ph&itm, 37.
Geranium pratmse, 16, 17, 37.
Geranium Robertianum, 33, 37, 52.
Geranium sanguineum, 37.
Geranium sylvaticum, 37.
Gerarde's " Catalogue of Trees, Fruits,
and Plants," 33.
Germander Speedwell, 60.
Geum intermedium, 36.
Geum rivale, 34, 36.
Geum urbanum, 7, 8, 36.
Ghiberti gates of Florence, 21.
Giant's Nosegay, 56.
Gibbous form of corolla, 10.
Gill-go-by-ground, 32.


GENERAL INDEX.
69
Ginkgo, 11, 14.
GUditschia triacanthos, 22,
Globulca ohvallata, 11.
Gold-cup, 28.
Golden moss, 56.
Goldilocks, 19.
Gold-knob, 28.
Goose grass, 11, 20, 46, 60.
Grahame, quotation from, 52.
"Grammar of Ornament," Owen Jones,
'3-
Great bindweed, 13.
Great knapweed, 16.
Greater the number of parts the less
constant, 11.
Great mullein, 6.
Greek myth respecting the Monk's-
hood, 44.
Ground Ivy, 4, 11, 16, 18, 32, 50.
Groundsel, 19, 39, 46.
Guelder-rose, 17,37.
Habitat of plants, 41.
Hard-head, 48.
Harebell, 16, 30, 46.
Hare's-foot trefoil, 27.
Hastate form of leaf, 10.
Hawthorn, 34, 55, 60.
Hay-maids, 32.
Hazel, 21, 30, 60.
Heart's ease, 43.
Hedera Helix, 11, 20, 55.
Hedge bedstraw, 11.
Hedge convolvulus, 19.
Hedge mustard, 4, 9, 15, 60.
Hemlock, 12, 19, 50, 52.
Hemp, 18.
Henbane, 26.
Hepatica, 39, 40.
Heraldic floral badges, 54, 55, 59.
Herb agrimony, 19.
Herb Bennet, 36.
Herb-gardens, Mitcham, 54, 55, 59.
Herb Robert, 32, 52.
Herb Trinity, 43.
Hexagonal stem sections, 15.
Hippocrepis comosa, 27.
Historic associations of the Broom, 21.
"History of orders of knighthood,"
Nicholas, 25.
Holbein, picture by, Bryony introduced,
19.
Holly, 9, 23, 60.
Holyhock, 18.
Holy thistle, 22.
Homer, reference to Hyacinth and
Crocus, 24.
Hop, 15, 17, 20, 21, 58.
Horned-violet, 44.
Horse-chestnut, 11, 13, 14, 16, 19, 22,
S6, 58, 59-
Horse-hoof, 14.
Horse-shoe vetch, 27.
Houseleek, 12.
Humulus Lupulus, 15, 20.
Hurt-sickle, 48.
Hyacinth, ovary of, 6.
Hyacinth, sometimes called "blue
bell," 30.
Hydrocotyle vulgaris, 10.
Hyoscyamus niger, 26.
Hypericum, genus, 9, 15.
Ilex Aquifolium, 9, 23.
Illuminated MSS., 9, 10, 43.
Imbricated arrangements of leaves, 14.
Imbrication of bracts, 48.
Impatiens-noli-me-tangere, 15.
Indehiscent form of fruit, 21.
Indian cress, 10.
Induration of organs into spines, 22.
Infinite variety of natural forms, 4.
Inflated form of calyx, 45.
Inflorescence of plants, 19.
Influence of light on plants, 32.
Influence of Nature on the mind, 45.
Infundibuliform corolla, 10.
Introduction of crocus into England, 23.
Involucel, its nature, 49.
Involucre of bracts, 49.
Inula Conyza, 19.
Inula Hetenium, 39.
Ipecacuanha, 32.
Ipomoea purpurea, 20.
Iris, 12.
Iron-weed, 48.
Irregular perianth, 6.
Iris pseudacorus, 12.
Ivy, ", 17. 20. 29. 32, 4°' 46, 55. 6o-
Ivy-leaved Speedwell, 4, 16.
Jute, 35-
Knapweed, 16.
Knowledge of botanical terms, 4.
Knowledge that should be possessed
by designers, 42.
Kolreuteria paniculata, 35.
Labiate stem-sections. 50.
Lamium album, 10, 15, 32.
Lamium maculatum, 50.
Lamium purpureum, 60.
Lanceolate form of leaf, 10.
Lantern plant, 30.
Lapsana communis, 39.
Large garden convolvulus, 20.
Lathyrus Aphaca, 27, 33.
Lathyrus hirsutus, 38.
Lathyrus latifolius, 22, 28, 33.
Lathyrus maritimus, 38.
Lathyrus Nissolia, 27.
Lathyrus pratensis, 20.
Lathyrus sylvestris, 33, 38.
Lathyrus tuberosus, 28, 38.
Leaves ordinarily bi-symmetrical, 16.
Leaf arrangements, 4, 11.
Leaves, simple or compound, 11.
Leaves springing from one level are of
equal size, 16.
Leaves, spinescent, 23.
"Legende of good women," Chaucer,
47-
Legume form of fruit, 22.
"Le Live de la Chasse," Gaston Phe"bus,
19.
Lent lily, 30.
Leopard's-bane, 20, 38, 39.
Lesser celandine, 8, 56, 58.
Library, Art, South Kensington Museum,
12.
Ligulate form of corolla, 39.
Ligustrum vulgare, 19, 60.
Lilac, 4, 12, 15.
Lilium candidum, 5, 29.
Lily of the valley, 8, 17.
Lime, 60.
Limitation of ill effects of poisonous
plants, 27.
Linaria Candollei, 42.
Linosyris vulgaris, 19.
Linum arboreum, 52.
Linum augustifolium, 5 2.
Linum catharticum, 52.
Linum ftavum, 50, 52.
Linum perenne, 52.
Linum usitatissimum, 52.
Lonicera Caprifolium, 11.
London-pride, 10.
Lords and Ladies, 50, 59.
Lotus diffusus, 27.
Lotus hispidus, 27.
Lotus in Egyptian art, 5, 21.
Love-in-idleness, 43.
Lucerne, 28.
Lucretius, quotation from, 26.
Lupin, 8.
Lupin tree, 56.
Luridas, the, of Linnaeus, 26.
Lychnis flos-cuculi, 60.
Lychnis viscaria, 41.
Lysimachia nummularia, 60.
Maiden-hair fern, 14.
Malva moschata, 34.
Malva sylvestris, 18.
Mangrove, 29.
Maple, 13, 15, 17, 18, 21, 22, 35, 37,
56, 60.
Marantapardina, 17, 50.
Marsh mallow, 4, 50.
Marsh marigold, 46.
Marsh pennywort, 10.
Marigold, 20.
May, 55.
May-lily, 8.
Meadow crane's bill, 16, 37, 46, 50.
Meadow saffron, 11, 21.
Meadow-sweet, 60.
Meadow vetchling, 20.
Meanings of plant names, 13, 30.
Medicago lupulina, 27.
Medicago tnaculata, 22.
Medicago sativa, 28.
"Medical Botany," Stephenson and
Churchill, 13.
"Medical Botany," Woodville, 13.
Medicinal value of plants, 32, 49, 51,
S3-
Melilot, 27.
Melilotus alba, 27.
Melilot us officinalis, 27.
Mignonette, 19, 60.
Milfoil, 46.
Milk thistle, 22, 25, 50.
Milton, quotations from, 41, 43.
Mistletoe, 12, 33, 59.
Mitcham herb-gardens, 26, 44.
Modification of growth according to
position, 56.
"Modus florendi" of the older botanists,
19.
Moneywort, 60.
Moniliform type of root, 29.
Monk's-hood, 44, 45, 50.
Mountain ash, 60.
Mullein, great, 6.
Multiple form of fruit, 22.
Musk mallow, 17, 18, 32, 34.
Mustard, hedge, 4.
Myriophyllum verticillatum, 19.
Naked crocus, 24.
Napiform type of root, 29.
Narcissus pseudo-narcissus, 9.
Narcotic plants, 26.
Narrow-leaved everlasting pea, 33.
Nasturtium officinale, 60.


GENERAL INDEX.
71
Siliqua form of fruit, 22.
Silverweed, 8, 46, 60.
Simple forms of fruit, 22.
Simple leaves, 11.
Siphonia elastica, 35.
Sir Joshua Reynolds on the object of
study, 16.
Sisymbrium officinale, 60.
Sketching plants as ornamental mate-
rial, 57.
Smaller periwinkle, 7.
Small bindweed, 13.
Smilax, stipules of, 33.
Snapdragon, 6.
Snowberry, 10.
Snowdrop, 5, 6, 19, 23, 45.
Soapwort, 45.
Solanum Dulcamara, 51; 5. tuberosum, 7.
Solitary infloresence, 19.
Sonchus oleraceus, 39.
Southey, on the study of Nature, 18.
South Kensington Museum, tiles in, 18.
Sowerby, "English Botany," 13.
Sow-thistle, 4, 39.
Spadix, form of inflorescence, 20.
Spatulate form of leaf, 10, 16.
Spartina stricta, 19.
Spear-plume thistle, 25.
Spearwort, 28.
Special localities for various plants, 41.
Speedwell, ivy-leaved, 16.
Spenser, quotation from, 43.
Spergularia marina, 42.
Spike form of inflorescence, 19.
Spines, thorns, and prickles, 22.
Spiny forms of fruit, 22.
Spircea Ulmaria, 60.
Spiral arrangements of leaves, 11.
Spotted and striped leaves, 10.
Spotted medick, 22; nettle, 50.
Square-stalked St John's wort, 15.
Square stem-sections, 15.
St Dominic, hare-bell dedicated to, 30.
St John's wort, 9, 30.
St Valentine, crocus dedicated to, 24.
Stachys, spiny calyx of, 23.
Stapelia Hystrix, 6.
Stellate character of Composite, 39.
Stellate form of calyx, 45.
Stem-sections, 6, 15.
Stem surrounded by leaf, 11.
Stem, varieties of, 52.
Stencilling in design, 46.
Stephenson and Churchill, "Medical
Botany," 13.
Stinging nettle, 15, 46.
Stipels, 33.
Stipulary organs, their nature, 33.
Stone-crop, 30, 46, 56, 57.
Strawberry, 17.
Strophanthus hispidus, 20.
Stuart badge, 26.
Study of Nature, 3.
Subfoliaceous scales, example of, 22.
Sunflower, 4, 8, 15, 39.
Supradecompound forms of leaf, 12.
Sweet William, 4, 10, 13.
Sycamore, 4, 8, n, 12, 13, 14, 19.
Symbolic use of plants in art, 5.
Symmetry as a principle in ornament, 6.
Symphorocarpus vulgaris, 10.
Symphytum officinale, 11, 34.
Syringa vulgaris, 12, 15.
Tamus communis, 10, 14.
Taproot, 29.
S
Taraxacum dens-leonis, 20, 39.
Teasel, 20.
Tendrils, their nature and office, 20.
Terminal floral growth, 19.
Testiculate form of root, 29.
Teucrium Scorodonia, 12.
Texture of leaves, n, 12.
Textures and surfaces of fruits, 22.
Thistle, 11.
Thistle in ornamental art and heraldry,
25, 34-
Thorn-apple, 21, 22, 26, 57.
Thorns, spines, and prickles, 22.
Three-coloured violet, 43.
Three faces under a hood, 43.
"Thrissill and the Rois," 25, 26.
Throat-wort, 32, 53.
Thyrsus, form of inflorescence, 19.
Tiles, Chertsey Abbey, 18, 32.
Tormentil, 46, 56.
Transitional form from petal to sepal, 5.
Transitional forms from scale to leaf, 15.
Tree-primrose of Virginia, 13.
Trees having their leaves in pairs, 13.
Trefoil in ornament, 60.
Triangular stem-sections, 15.
Trifolium arvense, 27; T. incarnatum,
27; T.pratense, 27; T. repens, 28, 58;
T. resupinatum, 27.
Troil-flower, 28.
Tropoelum majus, 10; T.peregrinum, 20.
Tuber Cibarium, 38.
Tuberous bitter-vetch, 28.
Tubular form of calyx, 45; of flower, 39.
Tufted vetch, 27.
Tulip, perianth of, 5, 45.
Tulip tree, 30, 35.
Turner, on poison in monk's-hood, 44.
Turn-hoof, 32.
Tussilago Farfara, 10, 14, 24, 39.
Tussilago Petasites, 1 9.
Twining, " Natural orders of plants," 13.
Two, as a basis of floral parts, 9.
Ulex EuropjEUS, 21, 27.
Ulnus campestris, 16.
Umbel, form of inflorescence, 19,42,49.
Umbelliferce, remarks on, 42.
Unilateral whorl of ground-ivy, 32.
Unsymmetrical leaf forms, 16.
Urtica dioica, 15.
Urtica lactea of old botanists, 50.
Variation from type in the parts of
flowers, 8, 56, 57.
Variation from typical form of flower, 9.
Variation of form or colour in plants,
4. 17. 37. 4o, 46, S°- .
Varieties of Centaurea nigra, 48.
Varieties of leaf forms, 10.
Varieties of spicate inflorescence, 19.
Various forms of fruits, 21.
Various motives influencing use of
plants in art, 5.
Vegetable physiology, 38.
"Vegetable World," Figuier, 13.
Vellozia elegans, 6.
Venation of leaves, 11.
Verbascum Thapsus, 6.
Verbena officinalis, 19.
Vernation of leaves, 14.
Veronica Chamoedrys, 60; V. hederifolia,
16.
Verticellate arrangement of leaves, 11,
16.
Vervain, 19.
Vicia Cracca, 27; V. lutea, 27, 28;
V. sativa, 27; V. sepium, 19, 20, 27;
V. sylvatica, 60.
Vinca major, 7, 19; V. minor, 7.
Vine, 12, 14, 21, 56.
Vine in Byzantine art, 5.
Viola comuta, 30, 34, 44; V. tricolor,
43; V. odorata, 43.
Violet, 12, 17, 43, 44-
Virginian tree primrose, 14.
Viscum album, 12, 33.
Vitis Vinifera, 12.
Wallflower, 22.
Walnut, 60.
Wall pepper, 56.
Water avens, 34, 36, 46.
Water buttercup, 28, 41.
Water cress, 46, 60.
Water plantain, 15.
Waved margin of leaves, 12, 16.
Weld, 12.
White archangel, 15.
White bryony, 14, 18, 34.
White dead nettle, 10, 15, 32, 46, 50.
White garden lily, 5, 29, 45.
White hedge-vine, 18.
White of Selborne on Study of Botany,
8; on System, 27.
White poplar, 60.
Whitethorn, 55.
White trefoil, 58.
Whorled arrangement of leaves, 11.
Whorled water milfoil, 12.
Wild carrot, 15.
Wild strawberry, 46.
Willow, 60.
Winged nut or samara, 22.
Winged stem, types of, 25, 33.
Winter cherry, 45.
Witch's fingers, 53.
Wolf s-bane, 44, 45.
Wonderful richness of natural form, 4.
Wood geranium, 37.
Woodruff, 60.
Woodsage, 12.
Wood sorrel, 58.
Wood vetch, 60.
Woodville's " Medical Botany," 13.
Woody nightshade, 51.
Wordsworth on the broom plant, 21;
on the teachings of Nature, 3, 23, 33,
38; love for the lesser celandine, 31,
56.
Wormwood, 30.
YVornum on symmetry in ornament, 7.
Wotton, Sir Henry, the violet, 43.
Wol/enia Carinthiaca, 42.
Wrinkled surface of leaves, 12.
Xyloma acerinum, 13.
Yarrow, 39.
Yellow bedstraw, 19, 46.
Yellow flax, 52.
Yellow iris, 6, 12.
Yellow melilot, 27.
Yellow, prevalent colour in Composite,
39-
Yellow rattle, 19, 45, 4°-
Yellow vetchling, 27.
Yew, 17.
Yucca gloriosa, 23.
Zoomorphic character of Celtic orna-
ment, 3.





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