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 Getty Research Institute 
 
 https://archive.org/details/seriesofsketchesOOhulm 
 
Of S'KBTC'HE$ 
 
 SON, Li M ITED 
 
 DAY AND 
 
 LONDON 
 
 
INTRODUCTION. 
 
 “And the earth brought forth grass, and herb yielding seed after his hind, and the 
 tree yielding fruit, whose seed was in itself, after his hind : and God saw that 
 it was good .”— Genesis i. 12. 
 
 GENERAL AIM AND 
 PURPOSE. 
 
 rriHE general aim and object of these sheets will be to illustrate to 
 some small extent the beauty of those natural forms which in such 
 rich profusion spring up everywhere about us, and to 
 endeavour to suggest something at least of that beauty to 
 those who may themselves be unable to afford time for 
 such study; while others who may have got a few set forms and thoughts 
 in which their ideas flow most easily, may here, we trust, learn some¬ 
 thing of the infinity of beautiful form so freely spread around them, and 
 will have an opportunity of extending their perceptions of its boundless 
 variety. To those, also, who humbly and diligently study the great book 
 of Nature for themselves, these sketches will be of service, as they have 
 in every case been drawn from the living plant. 
 
 When we observe the designs on the various objects about us, we 
 are at once struck by the very great use made of vegetable forms, either 
 modified and conventionalized, or treated in a purely 
 naturalistic manner ; and this is not a peculiarity of the 
 art of our own time merely. Nature has ever been a 
 
 at the service of all who would use 
 
 USE OF VEGETABLE 
 FORMS. 
 
 storehouse filled with suggestions 
 
 them. Note how in olden time (Gothic, as it is somewhat harshly called) 
 the carvers of Ely, Lincoln, and Winchester, studied, with an evident love 
 and enjoyment, the wild-brier, the maple, and the buttercup ; and then 
 observe how in the love they derived from their study they wreathed 
 them on their capitals and string-courses with a liberal hand, rightly 
 judging them to be most fit adornment for their Maker’s house ; perfect 
 
2 
 
 INTRODUCTION. 
 
 in their beauty, touching in their lessons to those who would thus receive 
 them. It is a gift of our Father highly to be prized—the power of 
 deriving pleasure from these so-called small things ;—not to value them 
 adaptation in na- merely as little children do, but reverently to think over, 
 ture of form to and to note in all their modifications—dimly, as at best 
 circumstance. q mug t always be—the perfect adaptation of form to the 
 circumstances of the plant’s existence. Instances at once occur to us, 
 as in the pine-tree, growing on the bleak mountain-side exposed to every 
 wind : the leaves, therefore, are thin and needle-shaped ; thus offering no 
 hold to its force. In the case, too, of the water-buttercup (.Ranunculus 
 aquatilis ), a little white flower, the upper leaves float on the water ; 
 these, therefore, are flat, and but slightly cut into lobes, while the leaves 
 that are submerged are cut into fine strips, thus offering no resistance 
 to the water, their length merely turning in the direction of the current; 
 no large surface, as in the case of the floating leaves, being offered to 
 the action of the stream ; as, if it were so, the leaves would by their 
 constant resistance tend to loosen the plant, and would themselves 
 speedily be torn into shreds. The stems and leaves of almost all water 
 plants being either flattened in the direction of the stream, or else 
 triangular in section, furnish us with another illustration ; both forms 
 offering but small resistance to the action of the water. 
 
 PAST ART. 
 
 We will now briefly turn our attention to Past Art, touching more 
 particularly upon those peculiarities of various times that illustrate our 
 subject. Going back then 3,000 years, we find the Egyptians 
 employing the plants of their own land ; some, like the lotus, 
 possessing a religious significance, and therefore occurring almost con¬ 
 stantly upon the temples, mummy-cases, &c. These representations are 
 almost invariably conventional both in colour and form, though we find 
 at times in some of the details a great resemblance to the natural plant. 
 An example before me, of a procession bearing sacrifices to the temple, 
 is noticeable on this account ; some of the worshippers bearing onions, 
 and others various kinds of fruits. In another example, where fishermen 
 are drawing up their heavy nets, the splashing has broken off several 
 leaves and flowers, and the sculptor has shown them floating on the 
 surface of the stream ; the peltate character of one of the leaves recalls 
 to our minds the form of the leaf of our own beautiful white water-lily : 
 while another is equally suggestive of a plant similar to our arrowhead 
 [Sagittaria sagittceiolia). There is neither perspective nor foreshortening: 
 plants are invariably treated simply as diagrams or elevations. 
 
 In Classic Art,—including in this general term architectural deco- 
 
INTRODUCTION. 
 
 3 
 
 ration, whether stone carving or mural painting, bands of ornament 
 running round vases, &c.,—we find natural forms, employed generally 
 under a strongly conventional treatment; though in subordinate positions 
 it is almost purely natural, as in some of the foliage and flowers running 
 round the rooms in the Pompeian houses. In the Greek vases, too, we 
 find a conventional waved line, and, at intervals, leaves are placed upon 
 it, clearly recognizable as vine, ivy, laurel, olive, and other plants. The 
 acanthus is but slightly modified ; it is a very beautiful leaf in nature, and 
 is, in good examples, very carefully and beautifully rendered in the capitals 
 of columns, &c. The Greeks, however, seem fully to have acted up to 
 the maxim, “ The proper study of mankind is man and, so far as we 
 can see, took but little trouble to express anything of the variety of 
 nature, only employing it strictly as an accessory, or in places where the 
 human form would not be admissible. 
 
 In Byzantine Art all forms were symbolic. This principle scarcely 
 admits of a very wide field,—the lily, type of the virgin and of purity, 
 and a trefoil form of leaf shadowing forth the mystery of the Trinity in 
 Unity, are the most frequent in their recurrence. This strictness of 
 exclusion of the old Classic forms gradually grew slacker, and the scroll 
 and acanthus after a time were embodied in their designs ; the acanthus 
 differing, however, very considerably from the Greek type, in being 
 much more sharply pointed—almost, in fact, resembling a thistle leaf. 
 A conventional representation of a vine bearing its fruit is also a very 
 common mode of decoration ; this, it is scarcely necessary to say, has 
 reference to the many passages in the Bible where the vine is mentioned 
 symbolically. 
 
 In Norman work, foliage is but slightly used, the whole work being 
 rude and massive in its parts. Very often where a round shaft rests 
 on a square base, the consequent space at the angles is filled by a 
 piece of bold and simple foliage, as at Romsey, IfHey, and other places. 
 It is not until this style develops itself into Early English Gothic, that 
 foliage is much employed ; we then find a beautiful conventional form of 
 leaf of constant occurrence. It is not at all easy to convey an idea of 
 the form by description ; but Romsey in Hampshire, Salisbury, West¬ 
 minster, and Lincoln, are full of fine examples of it. The colours 
 employed in decoration were very positive in hue ; vermilion, white, bright 
 green, deep blue, and black, being perhaps most frequently used. In 
 a sketch before me from St. Mary’s Church, Guildford, there is, first, a 
 round moulding,—this is red ; the rest of the surface is flat ; a white 
 band follows, then a broad blue one, having a rude scroll of foliage in 
 
4 
 
 INTRODUCTION. 
 
 white upon it ; beyond this, again, is a red border, separated from the 
 next, a green one, by a waved line of black. 
 
 Passing on, we come to the Decorated Gothic, in its early period the 
 most beautiful, perhaps, of all man’s handiwork in this direction. While 
 they were careful to keep the forms subservient to their purpose, their 
 enjoyment of the beauty that was everywhere around them must have 
 been true and deep. The foliage is both naturalistic and conventional, 
 though generally the former. After a little time, they gave up the easy 
 and delicate flow of line that Nature taught them, for a curious swollen 
 effect, somewhat similar to some species of seaweed, or as though 
 marbles had been forced behind the foliage ; it thereby became curious, 
 certainly, as a piece of skill, but it entirely lost the freedom that gave 
 so rich a beauty in its younger days, when men looked and learned, and 
 the time had not come when they thought they could go alone. 
 
 In the next period, the Perpendicular, foliage was but slightly used: 
 where it was employed, it was conventional, and sometimes very good; 
 but the old thoughts seem to have died away. The heraldic rose of the 
 Tudors was freely introduced; and often with a very pleasing effect, as 
 at Bishop Stapleton’s monument at Exeter Cathedral, where a waved line 
 throws off a flower and a leaf alternately. 
 
 In the styles of the Italian Renaissance, foliage is largely introduced, 
 sometimes very beautifully, but often very capriciously ; for instance, in a 
 fountain of Florentine work, dated 1490, in the collection at the South 
 Kensington Museum, we And vegetable forms largely introduced ; vases, 
 birds, snails, fruit, shells, masks, ribbons, and foliage all combined into 
 one incongruous whole ; the foliage, though often clearly recognizable, is 
 strangely mixed together; there is, for instance, a short lateral stem 
 thrown off, having a poppy-head at its extremity, and side-leaves that 
 are clearly oak. So direct a contradiction of nature surely cannot be 
 defended by the most ardent admirers of the style. The scroll form 
 is much used, and is often clothed very elegantly with conventional 
 foliage. 
 
 In the Oriental styles, conventionalism is dominant; though in a 
 Persian dish I remember to have noticed a direct imitation of a plant 
 apparently identical with our wild blue hyacinth; and on Chinese vases 
 sprays of plants are sometimes introduced without any great amount of 
 modification. In Indian examples, the forms are conventional, and grow 
 almost invariably from a scroll. The Moors were by their religion for¬ 
 bidden to represent the likeness of any living thing ; this of necessity 
 compelled the use of strongly conventional forms, as may be seen at the 
 
INTRODUCTION. 
 
 5 
 
 GUIDING RULES FOR 
 OURSELVES. 
 
 Alhambra. This restriction, together with extreme richness of colour, 
 scarlet and blue and gold, and the frequent introduction of interlacing, 
 gave a strongly-marked character to the style ; and we must bear in 
 mind, too, the great use made of inscriptions, either religious, such as 
 “ There is no power or strength but in God; ” or often in praise of the 
 place they adorn ; thus, “ Every art has given me of its elegance, has 
 bestowed on me all splendour and perfect beauty.” Amid the letters 
 of these inscriptions we often find foliated scrolls. 
 
 Having thus very hastily glanced at past art, we will in the next place 
 consider what we should feel to be guiding rules for ourselves in the crea¬ 
 tion of beautiful forms. First, there are the great points, naturalism 
 and conventionalism; then we may add to these—fitness, 
 repetition, alternation, symmetry, contrast, colour. The 
 first two will, no doubt, ever find their respective admirers. 
 When naturalism is displayed, as in some fabrics, by merely taking a small 
 spray, and powdering it over a surface, it can scarcely be considered 
 design : for beyond the selection of something pleasing in itself, and 
 the regulation of the intervals at which it shall occur, there is no scope 
 for thoughtful ingenuity and. skill. 
 
 Wornum, in his “Analysis of Ornament,” thus defines the difference 
 between naturalism and conventionalism : “ A natural treatment implies 
 natural imitation and arrangement; but an ornamental treat¬ 
 ment does not necessarily exclude imitation in the parts: as, 
 for instance, a scroll may be composed of strictly natural parts; but as no 
 plant would grow in an exact spiral direction, the scroll form constitutes 
 the ornamental or conventional arrangement. We may, however, have 
 conventionalism of details as well as conventionalism of arrangement.” 
 The Early English Gothic and the Moresque styles are the most purely 
 conventional; Greek and Roman are almost as much so; though in vases, 
 &e., naturalism is sometimes dominant. There may be a conventionalism 
 imposed by material as well as one of free choice. Brush.work, for in¬ 
 stance, favours a simple sweeping form of leaf; thus, in the Catacombs 
 of Rome we see this form largely employed, though there it is doubtless 
 the palm, chosen to remind the worshippers, not only of their martyred 
 friends, but of the victory their faith had gained them. To us the form 
 seems rude and quaint; to them it was a symbol, in the face of the violent 
 death which was hanging over them day by day, of that home beyond, 
 where the wicked would no longer trouble them, and where, their fight at 
 last over, the weary would rest in peace. 
 
 Fitness .—This is an important principle to guide the designer in his 
 
 WORNUM. 
 
6 
 
 INTRODUCTION. 
 
 labours. Fitness is shown in the adaptation of delicate plants to delicate 
 fabrics; such plants as the asparagus, corn-flower, forget-me- 
 not, meadow-vetchling, harebell, aud the crane’s-bill, being 
 peculiarly fitted for muslins and such-like fabrics. Fitness is shown 
 again in the adaptation of upright growth to vertical surface ; such plants 
 as the borage, Virginian creeper, scarlet-runner, arum, toad-flax, oxlip, 
 and crown imperial, are very suitable, though the list given falls very 
 far short of those that are capable of such adaptation. In fact, from 
 the normal conditions of plant-growth, this class must, of necessity, be 
 the most comprehensive. The reverse of this—horizontal growth to 
 horizontal surface—must of course be equally observed. All plants of 
 which the plan view is familiar to us are most suitable—daisy, dandelion, 
 cinquefoil, and others. Plants grouped together in a design should also 
 be of one season with each other; it would be false in principle to 
 introduce plants together that appear in different seasons: wild hyacinths 
 and blackberries, for instance, in one design would at once strike us as 
 showing a want of fitness. A continuation of this principle must be shown 
 in plants of one situation being brought together ; holly and water-lilies 
 wreathed together would appear strangely inconsistent. It would seem 
 scarcely necessary to say that using the flower of one plant and the leaf of 
 another, unless very strongly conventionalized, cannot be justified ; though 
 a short time back I saw an oil-picture of great merit, in which, amidst a 
 group of flowers, the artist had introduced a piece of Convolvulus major , 
 with its characteristic heart-shaped leaves, and on this he had placed the 
 flowers of the Convolvulus minor. This in a natural representation is un¬ 
 justifiable, less license being allowable there than even with the follower of 
 ornamental art. Another point to be noted in this principle is that plants 
 should show fitness to the materials in which they are worked: thorny, 
 rigid plants having a character about them that at once commends them 
 to metal treatment; while softer and more flowing leaves may be intro¬ 
 duced in wood-carving or leather-work. These principles must, however, 
 be put in practice according to the requirements of individual cases, and 
 subject to such modifications as would be needed : a designer employed 
 on a wreath of flowers for the cover of an almanack, for instance, would 
 confine himself to no particular season of flowering. 
 
 Repetition commends itself to manufacturers on the score of economy; 
 but, apart from such consideration, it possesses a great charm of its own. 
 
 We see it in paper-hangings muslins, fabrics of all kinds that 
 
 KEPETITION. Ill °. ° 
 
 are produced by machinery, stencilling, or block-printing. 
 
INTRODUCTION. 
 
 7 
 
 Alternation of form springs out of this, and is but a richer development 
 of the same principle ; it is presented to us, for example, in 
 
 ALTERNATION. * 
 
 the case of the Greek egg-and-tongue moulding, where two 
 very dissimilar forms are brought together in juxtaposition. In fabrics 
 and wall papers this principle is often observed, a large pattern diapered 
 at intervals over a ground often having a smaller one at regular intervals 
 equidistant from the larger units. Illustrations of this principle are 
 abundant. In these two principles greater richness may be produced by 
 admitting an alternation of colour also. 
 
 Symmetry .—If a design be stellate in character, or based on the 
 circle and intended for a horizontal surface, it will be most appropriately 
 multi-symmetrical ; for instance, if based on a circle, that 
 
 SYMMETRY. J 
 
 circle may be divided into six parts, and in each one of these a 
 similar figure, not being of necessity symmetrical in itself, but forming part 
 of one whole, and thus filling the circle symmetrically. If it be intended 
 for vertical application, it should more properly be bi-symmetrical—only 
 its halves on each side of a central vertical line being similar. The 
 fleur-de-lis is a type-form of this class. In a symmetrical design, the 
 component parts may be either identical, or they may agree in their 
 masses, only having the subordinate details varied. This latter is the 
 nobler kind of symmetry, requiring more power and scope in the designer 
 than a mere form, however good in itself, simply repeated, traced off 
 without any variation. 
 
 Wornum, in his “ Analysis of Ornament,” says : “ Where there 
 are several flowers from one root or one stem, the deviation from 
 individual symmetry is always in favour of the symmetry 
 
 WORNUM. J J J 
 
 of the collective group or groups. Where Nature groups, 
 it is the group that is the ornament, not the individual ; and this 
 is a law which must be observed likewise in Art ; as in all clusters, 
 colonnades, or festoons, the individuals of such designs may be arranged 
 at random, provided the cluster, colonnade, or festoon, be itself of 
 symmetrical proportions.” This, with the exception of the permission 
 to place your details “ at random,” seems the correct view to take. 
 Variation of the details will render the conception of the design more 
 difficult, for as symmetry is in itself a beautiful feature in a design, and 
 yet it is better to vary the details, so it thereby becomes more difficult 
 to retain the symmetry of the masses. It is in overcoming such diffi¬ 
 culties, however, that the skilled hand and busy thought of the designer 
 find their opportunity of employment. 
 
8 
 
 INTRODUCTION. 
 
 Contrast .—This may be of surface if the ornament be in relief, or it 
 may be a contrast of form or of colour. We see this principle illustrated 
 in all these respects in the magnificent designs of the Alhambra. 
 
 CONTRAST. 1 ° 0 
 
 There is generally a double plane, one forming the design, the 
 other subdued and sunk ; sometimes, in rich specimens, there are three 
 or even four planes. We see the contrast of form shown by the rigid 
 geometric lines, on which the leading plan of the design is based; and then 
 within these clearly-defined forms, the minute, elaborate filling, composed 
 either of geometric foliage or foliated inscriptions. The contrasts of 
 colour are striking even at the most superficial glance, in the free use 
 and juxtaposition of white, blue, scarlet, and gold. It is sufficient to name 
 these leading principles ; having once done so, examples are so common 
 that each one can test the application of them for himself ; moreover, 
 such terms as Repetition and Contrast are so expressive in themselves, 
 that long explanations would tend rather to confuse than in any way to 
 impress them with greater force. 
 
 Colour .—Though the series of points to be noted m preparing a design 
 would be far from complete without mentioning this, yet it is, of all others, 
 the most difficult to lay down direct laws for guidance. Obser- 
 
 COLOUR. ' . ° 
 
 vation and study of existing specimens will be the best guides. 
 Note down everywhere the effects of colour seen : the sunset tints, the 
 changes of autumn on the trees, the colours of plants, and the ribbons 
 in a shop-window as they lie side by side. In the colours of plants a 
 great choice is afforded us ; we must remember, however, the advice of 
 Sir Gardiner Wilkinson, who observes : “ Some there are 
 
 SIR G. WILKINSON. 
 
 who maintain that because in Nature certain two colours 
 are found in juxtaposition, they must necessarily be concords, and cite 
 those in various flowers to support their argument ; but they forget that, 
 besides the petals and the leaves, their eye sees, at the same time, the 
 yellow anthers, the brown stalks, or other coloured objects, even when the 
 flower is plucked, and many more when it is viewed in the bed where it 
 grows. The light and shade, and sometimes the semi-transparency of the 
 petals, also give to the hues in flowers a somewhat different effect from 
 what they would have as flat colours. But whatever may be the cause of 
 the difference, there is no doubt of the fact, and this is all that is neces¬ 
 sary for us to notice in considering the agreement or disagreement of the 
 colours. If, too, in the great variety of combinations presented to us by 
 Nature there must necessarily be perfect harmony, and if Nature is 
 expected always to supply us with concords, we shall have no choice left 
 but to receive the most opposite combinations with equal favour. Few 
 
INTRODUCTION. 
 
 9 
 
 LEAVES, 
 
 THE STEM, 
 
 people will go so far as to maintain that all Nature’s works are equally 
 pleasing.” Being careful to bear this in mind, Nature will afford us 
 both help and guidance. By availing ourselves of the colours 
 we find in leaves when decay has commenced, a vast range 
 of beautiful colours is at our service. The bramble is especially rich 
 in lovely harmonies of colour, arraying itself in yellow, crimson, purple, 
 and browns of varying richness and warmth. We frequently find the 
 leaves both of the wild arum, or cuckoo-pint, and of the orchis, covered 
 by irregular blotches of a dark dull purple. 
 
 The Stem .—In the wild arum the stalk is dark green where it joins 
 the leaf, and graduates down to a pure creamy white. Ivy-leaf stems 
 are often crimson or purple, and so, too, are the stems of the 
 bramble : in some species of ferns they are of a very deep red, 
 having almost the effect of black ; for example, the maiden-hair fern. 
 
 Flowers .—We derive a great deal of pleasure from the turquoise-blue 
 of the forget-me-not among the green leaves ; though this doubtless is, to 
 some extent, from its associations ; for it is one of those 
 
 FLOWERS 
 
 examples of perfect beauty which we find in Nature that will 
 yet scarcely serve us as suggestions in colour, as light blue and green can¬ 
 not be quite satisfactorily brought into juxtaposition A similar difficulty 
 would occur in adopting the beautiful warm and cold purples of the garden 
 pea: for extremely beautiful though they appear to us in the flower, it is 
 scarcely possible to bring the two colours pleasingly together in a design. 
 Yellow, green, and white, as we find them in the daisy and water-lily 
 surrounded by their green leaves, make a more successful combination; 
 yellow and green alone still more so; for instance—-buttercup, furze, broom, 
 iris, cinquefoil, dandelion, &c. The contrast of scarlet and green is some¬ 
 what too strong to be safely used, though in Nature it is beautifully set 
 before us in the corn-poppy and the pimpernel. The union of pink and 
 green is of much more frequent occurrence, and is superior in its delicacy 
 for ornamental purposes : wild rose, flowering rush, heath, campion, and 
 bramble, afford us examples. Rich brown and green commend them¬ 
 selves to us through the bulrush. The contrast of blue and green is 
 satisfactory in the corn-flower, where the green is in somewhat small 
 quantity, and the deep pure blue of the flower is dominant. It is not 
 a common combination in Nature; we see and admire it in the deep 
 blue of the sky, and the rich green of the early summer foliage ; but 
 it is one thing to enjoy that in the sunshine, with all the pleasant 
 thoughts derivable from the scene, and quite another to reproduce blue 
 and green in a design, in the hope that as one was so enjoyable, so, too, 
 
 D 
 
10 
 
 INTRODUCTION. 
 
 the other must of necessity be. Light crimson and green, when they are 
 separated by white, give a very satisfactory and available harmony; as 
 we see them, for instance, in the bud of the daisy. 
 
 Fruit .—The scarlet or crimson berries of the holly, wild arum, 
 mountain ash, and yew, are in rich contrast with their deep 
 
 fruit. • ^ 1 
 
 green foliage. The pods of the broom show us that, with 
 clear deep green and a dark rich brown, a very pleasing harmony may 
 be made. Where a cold effect of colour is wanted, privet suggests one 
 by its white flowers, blue-green leaves, and black berries. Nature is 
 infinite and free to all; all can for themselves study these things. It is 
 quite needless to accumulate further examples. Nature is the best 
 teacher, and what a man notes for himself is the best knowledge, both 
 in the pleasure he will find in it, and the fresh, healthy look it will give 
 his work ; and the greater, in consequence, will be the pleasure that 
 others will derive from it. 
 
 As this is not a botanical work, common names will be employed as 
 much as possible; a harebell having a suggestiveness in its name to a 
 designer that we miss when we call it Campanula rotundi- 
 botanic.al still it will simplify the descriptions greatly if a few 
 
 of the leading botanical terms for the parts of the plants are 
 employed : those, moreover, who may desire to enter thoroughly into 
 botanical nomenclature will find all they need in Lindley’s works. In the 
 description of points to be noted in the sheets, the calyx, or outer floral 
 envelope, will be sometimes a necessary term to use. The calyx is that 
 part which, usually green, though not of necessity so, is situate on the 
 outer part of the flower; it is composed of parts called sepals (Lat. sepio , 
 I hedge in), sometimes joined together, in other examples separate. If 
 these sepals are the same size, the calyx is regular; if not, it is termed 
 irregular. Alternating with the sepals, and occurring above them, we come 
 next to the petals—as a rule the bright and attractive parts of the flower; 
 those parts which in a buttercup flower, for instance, are yellow. Collec¬ 
 tively, they are termed the corolla. The petals may be distinct, as in the 
 scarlet geranium, or joined together, as in the harebell. Within the corolla 
 we come next to the stamens, generally little yellow knobs (anthers) on a 
 short stem (the filament). Within these, again, in the centre of the flower 
 we find the style, the top of it being termed the stigma. The stamen and 
 style are the reproductive organs, both generally occurring in the same 
 flower—sometimes, however, one in one flower, the other in another; these 
 parts are what botanists consider the flower, and they are surrounded 
 by the corolla and calyx chiefly as a protection. In ornamental art, 
 
INTRODUCTION. 
 
 11 
 
 however, the corolla is the main feature in the flower, and to that our 
 attention is chiefly directed. The varied forms of leaves will come 
 under notice as they occur in the sheets. These are all the terms 
 necessary to start with, the object being to point out the beauties as they 
 occur, and that, too, in the simplest way. At the same time, no one 
 without a knowledge of at least the elements of botany can hope for a 
 fair chance of success in the representation of natural forms. There is 
 ever a tendency to trust to ourselves, rather than to refer to the facts 
 that we fancy we know so well; but the observance of natural truth has 
 a charm that in the end will win its way. As an instance of how little 
 heed is often taken of the facts of the case in floral representation, 
 it is only necessary to notice the frequency with which, in designs made 
 from convolvuluses, tendrils are introduced either in a wilful going astray, 
 or in ignorance of the plant attempted to be treated. 
 
 A short account of the plants, pointing out the beauties that are 
 more particularly applicable to ornament, will appear at intervals amongst 
 the sheets. With this exception, the sketches will best speak for them¬ 
 selves—as each, for himself, will require to modify them to his particular 
 requirements. 
 
 F. E. H. 
 
 Stratford, Essex, March, 1867. 
 
DESCRIPTION OE PLATES. 
 
 No. 1. The Mallow.—This is one of our most beautiful wild plants 
 in its adaptability to the purposes of the designer, and possesses one great 
 advantage—the flowers and leaves mass well together. The leaf is neither 
 too large nor too small for the flower ; it has also a great variety of form, 
 ranging from an elongated three-pointed leaf, through various modifi¬ 
 cations, until at the lower part of the plant we find leaves rounded, having 
 the intervals between the seven lobes but slightly indented, and the whole 
 form of the leaf capable of being bounded by three quarters of a circle. 
 The bud, the opening flower, and the varied forms of the calyx, after the 
 petals have fallen away and the seeds have begun to form, all invite 
 attention. It would be very suitable for a wall paper. 
 
 No. 2. The Groundsel.—Though the flower is not very conspicuous 
 in this familiar plant, there is great elegance in the flow of line taken by 
 the leaves ; individually, too, there is much beauty in the outline of the 
 leaf, and great variety of form according to its position on the plant; the 
 lower leaves being simple in character, and the serrations but slightly 
 cut; while in the upper leaves the serrations are deeper, and the leaf is 
 much more finely cut up into divisions. 
 
 There is a great flow of line available to those who have given 
 spaces to be filled with ornament, in the wild free way in which the leaf¬ 
 stalks are thrown about in No. 3, the Nasturtium ; the three beautiful 
 forms of the fruit, and the long spur to the calyx, are points capable of 
 very good ornamental treatment; and the leaf being very simple in form, 
 would, on that account, contrast well with most others. 
 
 No slight charm in many plants, and one only obtainable by obser¬ 
 vation of Nature, lies in the beautiful gradation of form observable in 
 their leaves. For instance, on Sheet 4, the Hop—notice the stalk with 
 the three pairs of leaves : the two bottom ones are heart-shaped, the 
 next two have a deep cut on one side only, while the top ones have it 
 on each side—producing a very pleasing effect of gradation. This plant 
 is very applicable when a monochrome scheme of colour is desirable, the 
 fruit as well as the leaves being green; and from its being a climbing 
 plant, and freely wandering in its mode of growth, it is well adapted to 
 the covering of large surfaces, such as wall-papers, &c. 
 
 No. 5, with its simple leaf and beautiful form of berry, is especially 
 suitable for delicate surfaces, such as muslins, or for pottery, plate- 
 borders, &c. The large piece of Vine on Sheet 6 shows the form of the 
 
 E 
 
14 
 
 DESCRIPTION OF PLATES. 
 
 leaf and tendril, and may be of assistance to those who have occasion to 
 introduce it. 
 
 Sheet 7 gives the various developments of growth in the Dog-Rose, 
 one of the numerous species of Wild Roses. The varied forms presented 
 by the opening bud, and the falling back of the sepals from the stamens 
 after the petals are gone, are especially beautiful; and it will be observed 
 in the plan of the calyx, that two of the five sepals have little lateral 
 parts springing from their edges, that one has these little parts on one 
 edge alone, while the remaining two are quite plain. This is invariably 
 so : it is what is termed an imbricated calyx (Lat. imbrex, a roof-tile) 
 when the sepals are folded up. It is thus curiously arranged in order 
 that at each junction of the sepals there may be an overlapping row of 
 these little lateral parts, for the greater protection of the interior parts 
 of the flower. 
 
 The Corn-flower, or Corn Blue-bottle, No. 8, might be used with good 
 effect in paper-hangings, pottery, muslin, &c. The side, front, and back 
 views of the flower are all rich in suggestion, while the stem, with the thin 
 elongated leaves above, gradually passing into the broader form given sepa¬ 
 rately, might be spread over a surface with equal grace and facility. Flower, 
 leaf, and bud alike commend themselves to the study of the designer. 
 
 On the 9tli sheet, various available details of the Oak are given. It 
 is so often introduced in wood and stone carving, that it would not have 
 been well to omit it. It is frequently introduced from its associations, 
 or to convey the ideas of strength, endurance, or vigour. 
 
 “ The monarch Oak, the patriarch of trees, 
 
 Shoots rising up, and spreads by slow degrees ; 
 
 Three centuries he grows, and three he stays 
 Supreme in state, and in three more decays.”— Dryden. 
 
 Variety of colour, as well as of form, is suggested by the 10th sheet, 
 the Convolvulus minor. We find white flowers, blue ones, and others 
 intermediate in effect, being white streaked in varying degrees with blue. 
 The flower when just past its best becomes, by the falling back of the 
 corolla, a quaint and valuable modification of the type form. There is a 
 striking and beautiful simplicity, too, in the form of the leaf. It would 
 perhaps be well, in employing the plant for decorative purposes, to make 
 the flower and leaf somewhat more equal in depth of colour; for when 
 seen, as in the sketch, isolated from the rest of the plants of the garden, 
 the blue of the flower overpowers the green of the leaves ; and if thus used 
 in a decoration, a spotty, unpleasant effect would follow, as the flowers 
 would be forced forward to the injury of the rest of the design. 
 

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 4 
 
PART II. 
 
 Sheet-11. The Convolvulus major. — A plant to be found in the 
 gardens of most lovers of flowers. The heart-shaped leaf must be looked 
 upon as the typical form, but we very frequently find a three-pointed 
 variety growing upon the same plant ; both may therefore fairly be 
 introduced in any ornamental treatment. The turning over of the edge 
 of the corolla as the flower begins to .fade, causes a beautifully regular 
 pentagon. The forms of the bud, of the opening flower, of the side view 
 of it when fully opened, and as it closes and curls in, are all very beau¬ 
 tiful. Each flower passes through these various stages in one day, being 
 at dawn the opening bud, and in the evening closed and withered. 
 
 Sheet 12. The Blue-bell or Hare-bell.—This delicate and beautiful 
 little plant will be of great value to those who design for light and delicate 
 fabrics, and there is a freedom and flow of line that gives good scope for 
 pleasing filling of forms or the covering of surfaces. The name by which 
 it is known in botanical works—Campanula rotundifolia, the round¬ 
 leaved bell-flower—is not at first sight a clear one ; by following its long 
 stems down, however, to the turf from which they spring, we find that the 
 radical leaves are of this form, and that they gradually pass up the 
 stem into the long thin leaves by which it is better known. It flowers 
 during the latter part of summer, in the high banks of country lanes. 
 
 No. 13. The Thorn-apple.—The forms of the flower, whether seen 
 in elevation or in plan, are very graceful, and will fully commend them¬ 
 selves to the ornamentist. In such cases as suggest the employment of 
 a specially appropriate flower, such, for instance, as a description of 
 poisonous plants, this might well be used, as it is a very powerful 
 narcotic. Almost the whole of the plants of the order to which it 
 belongs are more or less poisonous ; for example, Woody Nightshade, 
 Deadly Nightshade, and Henbane. Though an English wild flower, 
 it is by no means a common one. It is to be found chiefly on rubbish 
 heaps by roadsides. It is extremely abundant in some parts of North 
 America. 
 
 No. 14 is an example of the wonderful variety of form taken by the 
 leaves of some plants according to their position on the plant. The one 
 chosen is the common Sow-thistle. The lower leaves are very simple in 
 form ; they then become more and more prickly, until the upper leaves 
 would be quite unrecognizable by a stranger to the plant as belonging 
 
 p 
 
16 
 
 DESCRIPTION OF PLATES. 
 
 by any chance to the same plant that furnishes the smooth leaves that 
 spring from the root. 
 
 No. 15. The Wild Guelder Rose.—This is introduced chiefly on 
 account of its colour, as it would be a very pleasing plant to employ 
 where a monochrome effect is desired, both berries and leaves beino- a 
 rich crimson. It grows generally by the sides of streams, and in autumn 
 especially is a very striking plant, the whole shrub, eight or ten feet high, 
 being one mass of brilliant colour. 
 
 In the next sheet, No. 16, the details of a plant are given well 
 suited for employment, from its mode of growth, to the decoration of a 
 vertical surface. The small green cross on the opposite side of the 
 piece of natural growth to the plans of the flower, is a section of the 
 seed-vessel, an elevation of which is given below. The petals differ a 
 good deal in different flowers on the same plant. Two plans of the flower 
 are given to show this. 
 
 In sheet 17, some beautiful forms of leaf are represented. As it 
 often happens that owing to size and other causes the flower of a plant 
 is not adaptable to ornamental purposes, and yet that the leaf is beautiful 
 in form, it is therefore well to employ that alone; and there are many 
 places—book-borders, muslins, &c.—where a diaper of leaves may fairly 
 be introduced. The two larger leaves are especially good, the gradation 
 of form being a beautiful feature in them both. I have numbered on 
 one of them the development of the different divisions on the lower 
 jmrt ; and similarly numbered their representatives on the upper part. 
 A reference to the sheet will explain the point better than it is possible 
 to do by a written description. 
 
 No. 18. The Potato-plant, though never, so far as I am aware, 
 worked into an applied design, is full of beautiful and suggestive form; 
 the leaf with its series of leaflets, large and small, and the flower-stalk 
 with its head of flowers and buds, being equally suited for ornamental 
 purposes. The berries, given below, take the place of the flowers when 
 they have fulfilled their work ; the whole plant thus becoming another 
 of those available for monochrome treatment. The flowers in nature on 
 different plants are various shades of purple or white. The other plant 
 on the sheet, Birds’-foot Trefoil, is to be found during August and Sep¬ 
 tember in the hedges ; the flowers when dead are replaced by dark brown 
 pods, similar in form to the well-known pea-pod ; they are about two 
 inches long, and stand out almost at right-angles from the flower-stalk. 
 
 No. 19. The Woody Nightshade, or Bitter-Sweet.—This plant, 
 though in reality very different in appearance, is often called by the 
 
DESCRIPTION OF PLATES. 
 
 17 
 
 ignorant the Deadly Nightshade. The berries of the present plant are 
 very poisonous ; they are to be found in varying degrees of ripeness 
 even on one bunch, some being green, others scarlet, yellow, or orange. 
 The isolated flower and buds are enlarged, those growing on the central 
 piece being of the natural size. There is a white-flowering variety, 
 though not a common one. The leaves have sometimes one pair of 
 lobes at their base, at other parts of the same plant there are two ; 
 examples of this are given, both detached and also on the central spray 
 as they grow. Abnormal developments are sometimes met with, as in the 
 case of the leaf by itself, opposite the cluster of berries. 
 
 On sheet 20, two plants are given, the tubular flowered one being 
 from Kew Botanical Gardens; the other, a common garden flower. Both 
 are light delicate forms, suitable to the decoration of vertical surface. 
 
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PART III. 
 
 No. 21 presents us with the well-known flower of the poets, the 
 Forget-me-not, common during July and August by the sides of streams, 
 growing in shallow water, amidst grass and reeds. It must be noted 
 that the flower-stalk always divides into two. The buds are at first 
 pink, and even when opening they remain for awhile of this colour, 
 forming a pleasant and delicate contrast with the pure blue of the 
 fully-opened flowers. This plant, like the Foxglove, Mullein, and some 
 others, appears to most advantage at an early stage of its flowering, as 
 after a time the flowers die off, the seed-vessels take their place, the 
 flower-stalks become elongated, and the effect produced by the flowers 
 massed at the end is not so pleasing as in the earlier state. 
 
 No. 22. The Large-flowered Willow-herb.—This is to be found in 
 most parts of the country, by the sides of streams, the whole plant, 
 of which the sprays given are only portions, often growing to a height of 
 five or six feet. It flowers during August and September. The calyx 
 resting on the top of the seed-vessel, and the very quaint elongated form the 
 seed-vessel takes w T hen the flower has died off, are points to be observed. 
 
 There is a metallic rigidity about No. 23, both in the leaves and 
 petals, that gives it a peculiar and striking character, and one that may 
 in some cases render it a valuable plant to the designer for metal-work. 
 
 No. 24. The Yellow Loose-Strife.—This fine plant, like the Forget- 
 me-not and Willow-herb, grows commonly in most parts of the country 
 by the sides of streams and watercourses. The whole plant is three or 
 four feet high, and is to be found in flower during the later months of 
 summer. It is admirably adapted to the decoration of vertical surfaces. 
 The flowers, when fully opened, have their petals recurved. 
 
 No. 25. The Meadow Vetchling.—'This beautiful plant is very common 
 in autumn, clinging to other plants in the hedges. The curious way in 
 which the lateral parts of the lower pair of leaflets cross each other is 
 very characteristic and beautiful. Its delicacy of form and general mode 
 of growth render it especially adaptable to ornamental art. 
 
 No. 26. The Maple.—-This is a plant of constant recurrence in old 
 Gothic stone carving. It is a rich green during summer; the bright yellow 
 is the autumn tint. 
 
 No. 27.—-The Holly is too well known to need any lengthy descrip¬ 
 tion. There is a variety having bright yellow berries, and another very 
 
 G 
 
20 
 
 DESCRIPTION OF PLATES. 
 
 common one with variegated leaves of green and yellow. It may be 
 well, perhaps, just to mention that the leaves upon any one tree vary 
 very much in their prickliness, some being very irregular in outline, 
 while others are perfectly smooth. 
 
 No. 28.—All who have noticed the ripening wheat, will have been 
 struck with the bright scarlet, blue, and yellow flowers that grow so con¬ 
 spicuously amongst it. The scarlet Poppy and the blue Corn-flower are 
 known to most; the bright yellow one is generally the one we have here 
 represented—the Corn Marigold. The soft succulent stalks and long- 
 leaves admit of great flow of line and variety of curvature ; it will be 
 noticed, too, that the upper leaves are but slightly serrated (Lat. serrct, 
 a saw, hence cut at the edges of the leaves like the teeth of a saw), 
 while the lower ones are deeply cut into lobes. 
 
 No. 29 gives us some good geometric forms. Both the front view, 
 with the little star of yellow anthers, and the ends of the sepals showing 
 themselves between the petals, and also the back view, where the calyx 
 rests on the corolla, are very beautiful and adaptable forms. The quaint 
 rigidity of the long thin leaves, and the manner of growth of the flowers 
 and buds from one centre, must also be noticed. This is a common 
 garden flower; it has two or three names, but is most generally known 
 as Spider-wort. 
 
 As a familiar illustration of the fact that beautiful things are not of 
 necessity rare or costly, we have represented on sheet 30 the common 
 garden Radish. The heart-shaped leaf is the first that springs from the 
 seed ; the first pair of leaves are of this form ; they are called, botanically, 
 the radical leaves (Lat. radix , a root) : all the others are very different, 
 commencing with a simple curved form, gradually elongated, and having 
 a pair or more of leaflets beneath it, and at the same time growing more 
 and more serrate in outline. A good ornamental treatment is to be got 
 out of the flower both in plan and elevation, and the employment of the 
 seed-pods in some cases would give a pleasant variety to a design. 
 
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PART IY. 
 
 Sheet 31 presents us with one of the numerous varieties of 
 Pelargoniums, or, as they are more commonly called, Geraniums. The 
 leaves are thrown out from the stalk almost at right-angles, thus giving 
 great boldness and decision to the general effect of the plant. The 
 rich and varied forms of the leaf contrast well with the long slender 
 stalks and flowers, and also with those of its neighbour on the sheet, 
 a foreign plant from Kcw. The whole of the latter plant is here 
 represented. 
 
 Sheets 32, 33, 34, and 35 are all species of Cranes’-bills, so called 
 from the long bill-shaped form that surmounts the seeds. No. 32 is the 
 Hemlock-leaved Cranes’-bill, common in some soils, and springing up 
 frequently in gardens, though it is to be met with in the hedgerows as 
 well. The views of the flower, side, front, and back, all carry their own 
 commendation to the designer, while there is considerable quaintness and 
 beauty in the strange angles and curves of the ripening seeds. 
 
 No. 33 is a garden species of Cranes’-bill. There is great beauty 
 and richness of gradation in the forms of the leaves, and although in 
 almost all the plants of this order the flowers grow in pairs, this is 
 an exception, and a noteworthy one; for though the flowers always 
 grow singly, yet on casting the eye a little down the flower-stalk, we 
 come to a point marked by one or two little scales, and then follows a 
 difference of direction in the stalk, suggesting the idea that one flower 
 has been pulled off; this seems to me a particularly interesting point, 
 the compromise between its own mode of growth and that of its fellow 
 Cranes’-bills. The leaves, it will be observed, grow in pairs. 
 
 No. 34 is the Herb Robert Cranes’-bill. The flowers in this species 
 grow in pairs ; by looking at the sheet, and imagining one of the seed- 
 vessels pulled from one of the pairs, a better idea may be given of the 
 suggestion of compromise referred to in sheet 33 ; the scales and the 
 altered direction of the stalk will then be identical with the form of that 
 part of the preceding plant. The Herb Robert is to be found in July, 
 August, and September, in the hedge-banks, and towards the end of that 
 time the whole of the plant, both stalks and leaves, becomes a rich pure 
 crimson. 
 
 In No. 35 the flowers grow in pairs, but the leaves occur singly. 
 This specimen was found fully in flower during October, at Henfield, in 
 
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PLATE. 40. 
 
PART Y. 
 
 ff He hath, made everything beautiful in his time.”-— Ecclesiastes, iii. 11. 
 
 “ Consider the lilies how they grow : they toil not, they spin not ; and yet I say unto you, 
 
 that Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these.”-— Luke, xii. 27. 
 
 No. 41. The Wild Arum, Cuckoo-pint, or Lords and Ladies.—-This 
 beautiful plant is to be found in flower during May, in secluded spots, 
 and deeply hidden in the hedge-banks ; the scarlet masses of seeds are 
 seen during the autumn months, and no one would without previous 
 knowledge identify them as in any way connected with the Arum flower 
 of spring, the leaves being mostly shrivelled or absent, and all that 
 remains of the plant is the bunch of scarlet berries on a stem of about 
 four inches in height. The flowers on the sheet are represented the 
 natural size, but the leaves in nature are larger, the midrib six or eight 
 inches in length being a fair average size ; they are sometimes plain dark 
 green, though generally, they have dark purple irregular blotches upon 
 them, and they are sometimes, but rarely, found with blotches of a lighter 
 green than the rest of the leaf. The want of space on the sheet has 
 greatly diminished the bud, the one from which it was sketched being 
 nine inches long. The central portion of the flower is in some cases 
 crimson, in others the same colour as the rest of the flower. The root 
 of the plant, while living, is very bitter to the taste, but when dried it 
 loses this to a great extent. It has in times of dearth been largely used 
 as an article of food, and being ground into a kind of flour, has been 
 employed instead of corn-flour for bread and other purposes. 
 
 No. 42. The tall plant is the Toad-flax, or as country children call 
 it, Eggs and Bacon; it is to be found in open sunny hedgerows, and 
 flowers from the end of July to the end of September. The side eleva¬ 
 tion of the flower is particularly ornamental. 
 
 The second plant on the sheet is the Oxlip, a curious wild plant, 
 and one but rarely to be met with. The flowers are like those of the 
 Primrose, but their manner of growth resembles the Cowslip. Their 
 arrangement in an umbel—that is to say, all springing from one centre 
 —is a very favourable feature for designs of a radiate character, and 
 there is a pleasant variety caused by the presence of the open and 
 opening flowers, and of buds in varied stages of development in one 
 
 i 
 
24 
 
 DESCRIPTION OF PLATES. 
 
 cluster. The leaves, though simple, are very good in shape ; they spring 
 from the root, forming a ring of leaves like the Primrose, and from this 
 the tall flower-stems rise up—flve or six to a plant. There was not room 
 on the sheet to get in the entire leaf, and yet keep its natural size ; a 
 small diagram ol the general proportion of the leaf is therefore added at 
 the side. The plant is to be found in flower during the spring. 
 
 Another of our very beautiful wild flowers is given on Sheet 43— 
 the Tagged Robin. It is to be found growing in damp meadows and 
 by the sides of streams ; it is in flower during the autumn months. 
 The beautiful pink is the typical colour of the flower, though it may 
 occasionally be found with white flowers ; the plant in all other respects 
 being similar to the ordinary type. This may be sometimes of use in 
 giving a pleasant variety of colour in a design in which this plant is 
 employed. Almost the whole plant is in each case represented; it grows 
 about a foot high, one long straight central stem being thrown up. The 
 side elevations of the flower are particularly good in their suggestions to 
 the ornamentist. 
 
 No. 44 is the Honeysuckle, or Woodbine, to be found during the 
 summer and autumn wandering in long wreaths of flowers along the 
 hedges. The beauty of the flower speaks for itself, the only point that 
 needs any remark being the bunch of crimson berries that takes the 
 place of the flowers ; they are very variable in size on one bunch, some 
 being as large as the one by itself ; in such a case the others on the 
 bunch seem to suffer, for if there be one of that size on a bunch, the rest 
 are, as a rule, very much smaller. 
 
 No. 45. The Virginian Creeper.—This beautiful trailing plant will 
 be well known to most from its being so frequently met with in gardens, 
 or seen running up the walls of houses ; a bright green in summer, but 
 in autumn scarlet and purple, the leaves shining with a rich metallic 
 lustre. Owing to want of space, it has been necessary to reduce the size 
 of the leaves very considerably : in nature they are about three times the 
 size of those represented. 
 
 No. 46, This beautiful plant is to be found, often in abundance, 
 running amidst the grass and wayside weeds that border country roads, 
 generally presenting itself to us in plan, as in the case of two out of the 
 three pieces on the sheet. The flower is very similar to that of the 
 Buttercup. The English name, Cinquefoil, has obvious reference to 
 the number of leaflets ; it is not uncommon, however, to find some of 
 the leaves on a plant with seven leaflets. 
 
 No. 47 is a well-known plant, to those who have a kitchen garden, 
 
DESCRIPTION OF PLATES. 
 
 25 
 
 under the name of Scarlet Runner. The long trailing and waving stems 
 are very beautiful, and are admirably adapted to the purposes of the 
 designer. A pleasant contrast may be obtained by introducing the 
 long simple form of the fruit amidst the beautiful leaves and scarlet 
 flowers and buds. It suffers like the potato flower from being so very 
 common ; if both were rarer, and occupied a place in the conservatory 
 rather than in the humble kitchen garden, they would be more 
 appreciated, and their beauty both of form and colour fairly recognized. 
 
 The next plant, the Snowberry, Sheet 48, is often to be found in 
 old-fashioned gardens ; it is a shrub of some five or six feet in height. 
 The leaves are subject to considerable irregularity of form, being some¬ 
 times entire and in other cases cut into a series of rounded lobes. It 
 will easily be seen that the detached bud, seed-vessel, and the open flower 
 are very considerably enlarged from the natural size. 
 
 No. 49. The Fuchsia.—This highly ornamental flower is subject to 
 great variation both in form and colour. The flower chosen for illustra¬ 
 tion has almost invariably four sepals, though one example is given on 
 the sheet where it has but three ; but in those plants where the calyx 
 is cream-coloured and the corolla pink, much more variation is frequently 
 observable. One plant that came under observation when specimens for 
 the present sheet were being selected had at the time six open flowers; 
 of these, four had the calyx five-cleft, and the remaining two had it 
 divided into four only, so that in plan some flowers were cruciform and 
 others a star form with five points. It will be observed that in some 
 flowers this portion of the calyx is almost horizontal, while in others 
 it is rolled back against the tube of the flower. The form of the fruit 
 or enlarged seed-vessel is also noticeable. In some cases the leaves grow 
 in pairs, and the buds spring from their junction with the stalk in pairs 
 or fours ; in other cases the leaves and buds spring from the stem in 
 threes. 
 
 Sheet 50 is an attempt to give an idea of the immense variety of 
 form to be met with in Ivy leaves. Besides the more ornamental forms, 
 a few abnormal forms are given, to show to how great an extent the type 
 forms may at times be departed from. 
 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
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PART VI. 
 
 “ If we could open and intend our eyes, 
 
 We all, like Moses, should espy 
 
 E’en in a bush the radiant Deity.”—C owley. 
 
 No. 51. A species of Poppy, from the Royal Botanical Gardens at 
 Kew. Its most obvious point of difference of form from the common 
 Scarlet Poppy is that in this case the leaves grow only from the root, the 
 flower-stem rising up without any clothing of leaves, as in the Scarlet 
 Poppy, and each stem bearing its one flower. The form of the flower 
 is very similar to that of the Scarlet Poppy, and the leaf bears the same 
 general resemblance. 
 
 No. 52. The large white flower is the Ox-eye Daisy, a plant growing 
 very plentifully during the summer months in meadows, and such waste 
 spots as railway embankments ; when met with at all, it is generally 
 abundant, large spaces being quite white with its large and showy 
 flowers. The second plant is the Stitchwort; it is one of our early 
 spring flowers, growing in the hedgerows with the Primrose and Hyacinth. 
 It is a light and delicate little plant, and would be suitably employed in 
 the adornment of delicate fabrics. 
 
 No. 53 is the Campion, a hedgerow plant to be found in flower 
 during the whole of the summer. The flowers are either white, having 
 a sweet scent and opening towards evening ; or pink, in which case 
 the flowers are scentless, and are open throughout the day. The side 
 elevation of the flower is particularly good in its adaptability to the 
 purposes of the designer. 
 
 No. 54. The King Cup, or Marsh Marigold.—Wanderers by the 
 banks of our streams will remember the large masses of these deep yellow 
 flowers fringing the water’s edge with their intense colour during May 
 and the beginning of June. The plant soon dies when gathered, owing 
 to the extreme succulence of the stem ; it possesses, however, when 
 growing, very considerable strength and tenacity. On the banks of the 
 Thames and other tidal waters it may frequently be seen at high-water, 
 swaying about with more than a foot of water over it, and thriving well 
 in such a situation. 
 
 A very good example of upright growth is given on Sheet 55, and 
 being green throughout, it may be of service where a monochrome effect 
 is desired ; the most decidedly three-lobed leaf is the one that grows 
 nearest the root. 
 
 K 
 
28 
 
 DESCRIPTION OF PLATES. 
 
 No. 56. This beautiful plant, the Yellow Jasmine, or Jessamine, is 
 extremely well adapted to the requirements of the ornamcntist, both 
 flower and leaf being equally good and suggestive. There is another 
 variety with white flowers. 
 
 No. 57 is the well-known Bramble, a plant admirably fitted by its 
 beauty of form to the purposes of ornamental art. Two front views of 
 the flower are given; it will be noticed that one has six petals and the 
 other seven. It is a valuable and noticeable feature in the Bramble that 
 all stages of flowering and of ripeness of fruit are to be found together, 
 so that it would be perfectly legitimate to employ the whole of those 
 stages of growth in one design. 
 
 No. 58. The Pink Persicaria.—This light and graceful plant is to be 
 found commonly enough in most places, and flowering during the summer 
 and autumn months ; it grows most luxuriantly in damp spots by the 
 sides of streams and suchlike places. The long slender leaf bends about 
 with great freedom, giving a beautiful variety of foreshortening in 
 different views. A very similar plant, though slightly larger in all its 
 parts, has the flower-heads green. 
 
 The centre of the next sheet, No. 59, is occupied by the Crown 
 Imperial, a fine-looking plant, and a very general favourite in cottagers' 
 gardens during the spring and summer months. The plant is in nature 
 about twice the size of the sketch. The few leaves at the bottom of the 
 flower-stalk are the beginning of a series extending down to the root. 
 The whole plant stands about three feet high. The leaves are remark¬ 
 ably twisted, suggesting a metal treatment. The flowers are generally 
 bright yellow, but sometimes they may be found of a dull deep orange 
 colour. The detached leaves on each side of the stalk of the Crown 
 Imperial are species of Oak, the two upper leaves are both from the 
 Scarlet Poppy, and the small one at the bottom of the sheet is Haw¬ 
 thorn. They are all beautiful forms, and will be useful for diapers for 
 book covers, &c. 
 
 No. 60. The first twelve examples upon this sheet are various 
 forms of Buttercup leaves, and serve to illustrate the great variety of 
 form applicable to the purpose of the designer, and the gradation from 
 great simplicity to great richness often to be met with even in the leaves 
 of the same plant. The next four leaves carry on this same principle, 
 having all been gathered from one plant. The next is a Violet leaf, and 
 the last two on the sheet are from the Kew Botanical Gardens ; they 
 are given on account of their quaintness rather than for their beauty. 
 
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PART VII. 
 
 Sheet 61.—We have here brought before us the mode of growth 
 and geometric details of one of the numerous family of Fritillarias. The 
 plant itself is by no means an attractive one, for, in addition to the dull 
 lurid purple of the flowers, they have an indescribably horrible odour, 
 producing violent headache and faintness if kept shut up in a room for 
 even a short time. Our great point for consideration rests, however, in 
 the applicability of its form to the purposes of ornament. The graceful 
 pendent bells, growing generally singly at the end of the stem, though 
 sometimes in pairs, may be very advantageously employed in decorative 
 work. A larger species of this family has the flower chequered all over 
 with dull purple and black squares, alternating like those on a chess¬ 
 board ; and it is also to be met with with dull white flowers. 
 
 No. 62 is one of the very numerous species of tropical water-plants. 
 The broad flat leaves float on the surface of the stream, and the stalks are 
 easily visible a few inches down in the water. It will be well, perhaps, 
 to mention that in this case, as in all the others where direct mention is 
 not made to the contrary, the plant is drawn of the natural size. The 
 thoughts of some might otherwise revert to our own beautiful white 
 water-lilies, with their leaves from eight inches to a foot in length, and 
 they might hence imagine that a tropical flower must be at least as large 
 as our northern specimens. 
 
 No. 63.—The Wild Hyacinth, often called the Blue-bell, and sharing 
 the sheet with its companion the Daisy, the “ Wee modest crimson- 
 tipped flow T er,” a favourite of all our poets. 
 
 “ She that is of all floures the floure. 
 
 Fulfilled of all virtue and honoure, 
 
 And ever alike fair and fresh of hewe, 
 
 As well in winter as in summer newe. 
 
 As soon as ever the sunne ginneth west 
 To sene this floure, how it will go to rest, 
 
 For fear of night so hateth she darknesse. 
 
 Her chere is plainly spread in the brightnesse 
 Of the sunne. 
 
 Well by reason men it calle maie 
 
 The Daisie, or else the Eye of the Daie.’ 5 — Chaucer. 
 
 The Wild Hyacinth grows in quiet shady places under trees, and in 
 the early spring such spots as those are perfectly blue with its blossoms, 
 stretching away under the trees as far as the eye can reach, until in the 
 
 L 
 
30 
 
 DESCRIPTION OF PLATES. 
 
 distance the detail is lost, and there is only a rich haze of purple colour. 
 The scent of the flowers is very powerful, and to many persons oppres¬ 
 sively so, causing giddiness and headache even while walking amongst 
 them. The Daisy is to be found more especially in meadows ; some 
 of the flowers have the crimson-tipping much more clearly marked than 
 others, and it must be remembered that it is at the back of the flower. A 
 little difference is observable in the growth, according to the situation. 
 The plant represented grew in the hedge-bank amongst the long grasses, 
 and is consequently rather drawn out; if it had been by the path, the 
 leaves would have had shorter foot-stalks, and the stem of the bud would 
 have been about a third of its present length. 
 
 No. G4 is one of our eleven British species of Ranunculus, or, as they 
 are more familiarly termed, Buttercups. In employing the present plant 
 for a design, the growth of the leaflets in threes must be noted. The large 
 leaf at the bottom of the sheet is one of those that grow about the root; 
 there was not room to represent its stalk, but it would be about eight 
 inches in length. The transition of form from this complex root-leaf 
 till we get to the thin, almost grass-like, leaves at the top of the plant, is 
 very striking, and would help greatly to give the idea of lightness and 
 delicacy to a design in which it was made a feature. The plans of the 
 flower, both back and front, are very ornamental and rich in character, 
 and with the bud deserve due attention when the plant is employed as 
 a basis of design. 
 
 No. 65 is a cultivated species of the same family, the flowers in 
 this case being double. The forms of the leaf are very good, and the 
 gradation from richness of form to comparative simplicity is still 
 noticeable, as in the last specimen. 
 
 On Sheet 66 we have two specimens of Anemone ; the blue one being 
 the Alpine Anemone, and the white one the beautiful Wood Anemone, 
 common in May on shady hedge-banks, and starring them over with its 
 flowers of brilliant white. The whole plant is in each case represented. 
 They both spring from the ground with one single stalk ; some distance 
 up this we find an arrangement of three leaves all springing from the 
 same point, and each leaf is itself composed of three leaflets, and above 
 these the one flower springs up. All the details are the natural size, with 
 the exception of the fruit, and that is very considerably enlarged. The 
 side view of the blue flower is particularly graceful. 
 
 No. 67 is a small piece of the foliage of the Bamboo. The freedom 
 and boldness of the curves made by the leaflets will commend it to those 
 who may have occasion to decorate a large surface with simple ornament. 
 
DESCRIPTION OF PLATES. 
 
 31 
 
 From the absence of striking flowers, the plant fits itself admirably 
 for monochrome design, and might be very advantageously employed 
 for wall-papers, chintz, &c., where cheapness as well as beauty is 
 aimed at. 
 
 No. 68 is filled with the available details to the ornamentist of the 
 White-thorn, Hawthorn, or, as it is often called, May. From a desire 
 to show to as great an extent as possible the great variety of form in 
 the leaves, the pieces in flower are not so full of blossom as they may 
 frequently be found. The flowers grow in bunches, at short intervals 
 down the stem. While collecting materials for the present sheet, a spray 
 was found eighteen inches in length, and having in that space thirty- 
 three bunches of berries upon it, the total number of berries being 227. 
 The bunches of flowers and berries given on the sheet are the end ones 
 of the branch ; other bunches similar to them would occur at intervals of 
 an inch or so down the bough, sometimes forming a long line of masses 
 of crimson or white, at other times much fewer in number, and some¬ 
 times, as in the case of those represented, there are only bunches at 
 the end of a bough. In some cases the stipules and thorns at the bottom 
 of the leaf-stalks are much more developed than in others ; for instance, 
 in the small piece drawn separately at the bottom of the sheet, both are 
 clearly developed ; but in the other three large pieces the leaf-stalks pass 
 down to the stem without there being either stipules or thorns at their 
 junction. There are garden varieties with deep crimson single flowers, 
 and others having the flowers white or pink, and double. 
 
 No. 69. The Chinese-lantern Plant.—This particularly graceful plant 
 is very commonly grown in gardens, and will be familiar to most persons. 
 It flowers in June and July. The large leaf on the upper part of Sheet 70 
 is one of the lower leaves of this same plant. Whether we take the leaf, 
 side and front elevation of the flower, or the form of the bud, we find 
 each equally beautiful and valuable for the requirements of decorative 
 art, though it seems to have hitherto been but little used for such 
 purpose. 
 
 No. 70.—The leaves on this sheet are, with the exception of one, 
 beautiful forms for diapering or powdering a surface with ornament. 
 The one exception, the leaf with the very short midrib, is curious rather 
 than beautiful, and on that ground has been admitted. Its very quaint¬ 
 ness may, however, give it a value for some purpose that may arise. It 
 is the leaf of a trailing plant growing in the collection at Kew. 
 
PLATE 61. 
 
PLATE 62 
 
 

 
 

 
 
 
PLATE 63. 
 


 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
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PART VIII. 
 
 “ Search out the wisdom of Nature—there is depth in all her doings : 
 
 She hath on a mighty scale a general use for all things. 
 
 Yet hath she specially for each, its microscopic purpose— 
 
 A reason for each blade of grass, that reareth its small spire.” 
 
 Proverbial Philosophy. 
 
 No. 71 presents a valuable trailing plant to our notice. Its mode 
 of growth, and the beautiful forms of the various parts, fit it in an especial 
 manner to the purpose of the ornamentist. The front and side views of 
 both flowers and bud are beautifully quaint, and the varied forms of the 
 leaves are equally worthy of attention. It will be found exceedingly 
 useful where large surfaces, such as chintz and wall-paper, have to be 
 covered with ornament; the scale of the leaves and flowers being admi¬ 
 rably adapted to such a purpose. This will not, however, debar its use 
 in lighter and more delicate materials ; for though it is not well, as a rule, 
 to employ a plant that will have to be considerably enlarged from the 
 natural size in order to fit it for a design, yet the contrary is by no means 
 so objectionable. The present example, for instance, even if very con¬ 
 siderably reduced, would make a tasteful and delicate ornament for china, 
 muslin, &c. 
 
 No. 72.—This must be a familiar plant to most ramblers in country 
 places. It grows in quiet, sluggish streams, and flowers about the end of 
 July. The form of the leaves is very ornamental; they vary very much, 
 some being much broader, and others still more drawn out than those 
 represented on the sheet, though in either case the name of the plant— 
 the Arrow-head—remains equally appropriate, the general character of 
 the leaves being never altered in these modifications of their form. The 
 geometric plan of the flower is very ornamental, and might be used by 
 itself as a powdering to cover a large surface. The growth of the flower 
 in threes on the stem is a noticeable feature. It is curious to observe 
 how a particular number or a multiple of if generally occurs throughout 
 the parts of a flower, and here we have it shown not only in the three 
 petals of the flower, but also in the three-pointed leaf and the three-sided 
 stem. The triangular stem, it is almost needless to say, fits it better than 
 any other form for resisting the action of the water. Many good exam¬ 
 ples might be given here in further illustration of what has just been 
 stated ; it will suffice, however, to mention two only. In the whole of 
 
 M 
 
36 
 
 DESCRIPTION OP PLATES. 
 
 midst. The extremities of the leaves are flat and riband-like, and this 
 form gradually alters until at the water-level it is triangular in section, as 
 shown in the figure at the top of the sheet. This is another example of 
 the fitness that we have already referred to in the case of the leaf-stalks of 
 the Arrow-head, Sheet 72. The other leaves on the sheet, though com¬ 
 paratively unimportant, may yet be made very useful in diaper work, and 
 for many other uses that will suggest themselves to the designer. 
 
 No. 79. — The principal plant on the sheet is the Many-headed 
 Cotton-grass. It is to be met with occasionally on damp commons and 
 bogs. The specimen from which the sheet was drawn grew on rather 
 high and sandy ground, amidst the heather, in one particular spot on 
 Woking Common, Surrey. There is another British species, the Single¬ 
 headed Cotton-grass, where each stem has but one tuft at its extremity. 
 It is rarer than the Many-headed. The Fine-leaved Heath, with its rich 
 purple bells, may be very advantageously added to the stock of material 
 available to the ornamentist. Muslins, plate borders, card backs, &c., 
 may be covered with its delicate ornamental forms to great advantage ; 
 and its branching, spreading mode of growth renders it particularly 
 suitable for the adornment of delicate fabrics. It flowers during August 
 and September, and is perhaps most beautiful when the flowers begin 
 to decay—the dying ones turning a deep brown, affording a beautiful 
 harmony of colour with the rich purple of the remaining bells. 
 
 No. 80.—The three large leaves on this sheet represent three stages 
 of the growth of a foreign fern, the Doryopteris palmata, a native of 
 Brazil. The first leaves are very simple in their character, and resemble 
 our English Ivy in form ; but as the plant grows older the leaves become 
 much richer in outline, and well worth the attention of the ornamentist. 
 The top leaf of the three represented on the sheet is particularly orna¬ 
 mental in effect. Wanderers by hedgerows in September and October 
 may often observe long festoons of berries stretching from one branch to 
 another, and brightening the withering hawthorns and other shrubs by 
 their brilliant colours. They are the ripening berries of the Bryony, the 
 leaves of the plant having already died away. The berries are first a 
 bright green ; this gradually turns into yellow, then into orange, and 
 at last into a beautiful crimson ; and as all these stages may be found 
 going on at once in the plant, and often in one bunch of its berries, 
 the general effect of colour produced is very rich and beautiful. A small 
 portion of one of these Bryony wreathings is given on the sheet. 
 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
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PART IX. 
 
 “ Our Saviour made trees and plants to teach the people : . . . . and I conceive that he did 
 this, that by familiar things he might make his doctrine slip more easily into the hearts 
 even of the meanest; and that labouring people, whom he chiefly considered, might have 
 everywhere monuments of his doctrine; remembering in gardens, his mustard-seed and 
 lilies; in the fields, his seed-corn and tares; and so not to be drowned altogether in the 
 works of their vocation, but sometimes lift up the mind to better things in the midst of 
 their pains/’— George Herbert. 
 
 On Sheet 81 we have a series of highly useful details derived from 
 the common wild Avens, a plant to be found very generally in the hedge¬ 
 rows. It begins to flower in May, and continues in blossom until August. 
 The flower derives great quaintness and beauty from the decided contrast 
 and alternation of the long sharp sepals with the shorter and more 
 rounded forms of the petals. On turning the flower over, so as to present 
 a view of the calyx, we find a very beautiful arrangement of bractlets 
 alternating with the sepals. The leaves that grow on the stem are 
 ternate—that is to say, divided into three leaflets ; and the junction of the 
 stem and leaf is covered by large stipules of the same general character 
 as the leaf. The large detached leaf at the bottom of the sheet shows 
 this arrangement more clearly. The upper detached leaf is one of the 
 radical leaves; it differs from the other in having a much longer stalk, 
 and in having a series of irregularly placed leaflets running down its 
 stalk, giving a beautiful gradation of form, and rendering it extremely 
 valuable to the designer. The quaint way in which the sepals fold 
 together in the bud, and leave the little bractlets standing out, is also 
 noticeable. 
 
 No. 82. Details of the growth of the Strawberry Plant.—The calyx 
 is very similar in form to that of the Avens, as we here again get a 
 series of bractlets alternating with the larger and more pointed forms of 
 the sepals ; and a very similar effect is produced by this arrangement in 
 the Strawberry bud to that already noticed in the bud of the Avens, the 
 sepals being folded together and the bractlets left standing by themselves. 
 Five is the typical number of petals and sepals; there is, however, great 
 irregularity, as in even a small bed of flowers many will be found with 
 the parts of the flower in sixes—sometimes all of one size and form, and 
 at other times five well-formed ones have to make room for a small and 
 often distorted one. The ornamentist will therefore be quite justified in 
 using a corolla of either five petals or of six, as may seem at the time 
 the best suited to the design. The leaves are ternate in form. 
 
 The Yellow Iris, the subject of Sheet 83, is a familiar plant to all 
 wanderers by the banks of quiet streams. It is to be found in flower 
 during June and July, in rivers, marshes, and canals. The upper detached 
 
 N 
 
38 
 
 DESCRIPTION OF PLATES. 
 
 flower gives the geometric side elevation, while below we have the flower 
 in plan, a view looking down on the top of it. We notice in this view 
 the regular arrangement of all the parts of the flower in threes, and we 
 still find this principle carried out in the seed-capsule; on the other side 
 of the stalk of the large piece, two sections of seed-vessels are shown, 
 and these present to us this same arrangement very clearly. The 
 seed-capsules are to be found in September. The common purple Iris is 
 the fleur-de-lis of heraldry. Tt is sometimes referred to as the fleur-de- 
 luce. Louis YU. of France first adopted this plant, in accordance with 
 a custom of those days, as his badge during the second crusade ; and 
 luce is merely a corrupted form of Louis. Fleur-de-lis, the Lily flower, 
 is the name by which it is now more generally known in works on 
 heraldry, &c. 
 
 No. 84. The small-leaved trailing plant on the upper part of the 
 sheet is the Ivy-leaved Antirrhinum. This beautiful little flower is 
 to be found in the crevices of old brick and stone-work, where it is 
 exposed to damp or tidal action ; hence it is a common plant in such 
 a place as the towing-path of a river where the tide comes up to an 
 embankment of rough stones The present specimen was gathered from 
 the walls of Ockham church, Surrey—a church that has a good deal of 
 thirteenth century work about it, and in its crumbling decay affords 
 many a weather-worn gap between the stones. It is in such spots as 
 these that this beautiful little plant is seen to perfection. It seems 
 superfluous to point out the great service it may be to designers ; the 
 beautiful forms of flower, of leaf, and of general growth, render it avail¬ 
 able wherever delicate work is required, as in muslins, and the decoration 
 of china, book covers, and many other uses. The second plant on the 
 sheet is the Black Bryony, a very common plant on hedges in the autumn 
 months, where it may be found reaching from one bough to another in 
 long wreaths of beautiful heart-shaped leaves. 
 
 On No. 85, various ornamental details of the Great Periwinkle and 
 the Dandelion are presented to our notice. The irregularity of each 
 individual petal in the Periwinkle flower, and their formation collectively 
 into a beautiful symmetrical form, is a striking point to be observed. 
 The forms of the Dandelion buds are equally deserving of attention, and 
 would well repay the ornamentist if tastefully introduced in a design ; 
 it is one of those plants, unfortunately, passed over and slighted on account 
 of its commonness. 
 
 No. 86. The Harts’-tongue Fern.—This graceful leaf must be familiar 
 to all who take any interest in wayside plants. It is subject to much 
 variation of form. There are more than one hundred recognized varieties 
 
DESCRIPTION OF PLATES. 
 
 39 
 
 figured in a recent work on the British Ferns. The brown streaks on the 
 back of the leaf are the sori, or spore-cases, and are filled by the seed. 
 The specimens shown are of fair average size, though it may be found 
 sometimes with fronds eighteen inches in length, and even more. It is an 
 evergreen, delighting more especially in places that are both damp and 
 shady. It may frequently be found growing in the crumbling brickwork 
 down old wells. It derives its scientific name Scolopendrium from scolo- 
 pendra , the centipede, or as children often call it, “ hundred-legs,” from 
 the resemblance of the legs and body of the scolopendra to the leaf, with 
 its long rows of spore-cases on each side of the midrib. 
 
 On Sheet 87 we have our attention directed to the various beautiful 
 details available to the ornamentist in the Snowdrop, Primrose, and 
 Ranunculus. Two very distinct forms of Primrose flower are given, the 
 large one having prospered in the world, while the smaller one had a 
 bad over-shaded spot to grow in, and it has, therefore, none of the 
 richness of form of its more fortunate companion. The Primrose is 
 very seldom irregular or abnormal, though one flower having eight 
 regular petals instead of the usual five was found while searching for 
 materials for the sheet. 
 
 Sheet 88. The Mistletoe.-—This well-known plant is one of our few 
 parasitical species-—plants deriving their support not from the soil but 
 from other plants on which they grow. The Mistletoe is generally found 
 growing on old apple-trees. It is a valuable plant to the ornamentist, 
 coming as it does at a time when the supply of natural material is but 
 scanty; and it is indispensable where any treatment of plants is desir¬ 
 able to convey the idea of Christmas or winter ; though those who so 
 employ it must bear in mind that it is a forbidden plant in ecclesiastical 
 decorations. 
 
 Sheet 89 is composed of Wild Daffodil, Narcissus, and White 
 Arabis. The Daffodil is to be found very commonly in sheltered copses, 
 filling them with a rich mass of yellow colour, about the end of March 
 and the beginning of April, and its beauty and brightness have always 
 made it a favourite with lovers of Nature. Herrick, for instance, has 
 devoted one of his most beautiful sonnets to the “ faire Daffodils,” and 
 the lessons that they teach:— 
 
 “ We have short time to stay as you ; 
 
 We have as short a spring, 
 
 As quick a growth to meet decay. 
 
 As you or any thing/’ 
 
 The Narcissus, from its being a garden flower, will, perhaps, still less 
 need any description. It is one of the spring flowers, and is to be found 
 
40 
 
 DESCRIPTION OF PLATES. 
 
 in flower at the same time as its near relative the Daffodil. The White 
 Arabis is to be found during the earlier months of the year standing erect 
 amidst the grasses by the hedge-side. The cross form of the flower, 
 the appearance of the erect seed-vessels after the flower is gone, the form 
 of the calyx when seen in elevation, and the alternate arrangement of the 
 leaves upon the central stem, are all characters to be noted where the 
 plant is employed for ornamental purposes. 
 
 It sometimes happens that in looking at a plant we are struck by 
 the very ornamental character of one of its members, and we yet feel 
 that the whole plant is in itself scarcely capable of application in deco¬ 
 rative art. We can, however, frequently employ the part that pleases us 
 as a diapering or powdering in surface decoration, and other uses that wall 
 suggest themselves. With this view% No. 90 gives us the plan, back and 
 front, of four beautiful forms of flowers. The first is the flower of the 
 common Rue. The front view, with the four short stamens sheltering 
 under the quaint forms of the petals, and the four longer stamens boldly 
 alternating with them, and filling in the spaces between the petals, is 
 especially curious and suggestive. The back view, equally good in form, 
 suggests from its greater simplicity a diapering where less richness and 
 detail are required. 
 
 The next on the sheet is the flower of the Lime-tree. Most persons 
 must have noticed the tree during its season of flowering, generally about 
 the end of June, though the beauty and delicacy of the individual blos¬ 
 soms may have escaped, their observation. The fragrance of the flowers is 
 exceedingly powerful, and is often of itself sufficient to direct attention 
 to the tree, and it is very curious to stand beneath the mass of foliage and 
 listen to the deep sustained murmur of the hosts of bees and insects of all 
 kinds that are attracted by the honey of the flowers. For the sake of 
 variety, the front view of the flower has the tips of the calyx curving 
 inwards, a sign of the commencement of decay, while in the back view 7 it 
 has been chosen at its best, and presents perhaps even greater beauty to 
 the ornamentist. The Stonecrop has supplied details for the remaining 
 half of the sheet. The type-form of the flower is the five-pointed star, 
 but the four-pointed arrangement is almost as frequently to be met with. 
 These beautiful forms would prove exceedingly useful and applicable 
 where a simple star is repeated over a surface as a powdering, as in 
 wall-decorations, muslins, book-covers, and many other uses. 
 
PLATE 81. 
 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
PLATE 82. 
 
PLATE 83 
 
PLATE 84 
 
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PART X. 
 
 “ All flesh is as grass, and all the glory of man as the flower of grass. The grass withereth, 
 and the flower thereof falleth away.” —1 Peter i. 24. 
 
 No. 91. The Yellow Horned Poppy.—This plant is often known as 
 the Yellow Cliff Poppy. The first name points clearly to its distin¬ 
 guishing characteristic, the long horn-like seed-vessels ; while the second 
 suggests its favourite place of growth — chalk cliffs by the seashore. 
 The pleasing forms of the leaves and the long waving seed-vessels render 
 it in an especial degree a plant adapted to the requirements of the orna- 
 mentist. The detached figure in the upper part of the sheet is a plan of 
 the flower of the London Pride ; it is greatly enlarged, the real size of 
 the natural flower being scarcely more than a quarter of an inch in 
 diameter. Many persons, from seeing it only as a garden flower, may 
 not, perhaps, be aware that it is one of our British plants, occurring most 
 frequently in its wild state in hilly and mountainous districts. 
 
 No. 92.—The upper part of this sheet is devoted to the various 
 ornamental details of the White Archangel, or White Dead Nettle. 
 It is necessary, in mentioning it, to refer thus particularly to its colour, 
 as there is another plant very similar to this in form, except that it is 
 considerably smaller, and the flowers are of a dull crimson colour; 
 hence it is known as the Bed Archangel, or Red Dead Nettle. Both 
 these kinds are sometimes termed Blind Nettles ; and whichever word 
 is used equally expresses the fact that these, unlike the Stinging Nettle, 
 can be gathered fearlessly. It may be well, perhaps, to mention that 
 the five-pointed green star is the plan of the calyx, while the square¬ 
 looking form a little below it is the section of the main stalk of the plant. 
 The other details, the side and front views of the bud and flower, &c., 
 require no further explanation, nor will any elaborate exposition of their 
 strikingly beautiful forms be needed. The second plant upon the sheet 
 is the Lesser Celandine, or Pilewort. This, like the Dead Nettle, is 
 one of our common wild spring flowers. The flower has three sepals, 
 but the number of petals seems to be liable to very considerable varia¬ 
 tion, some flowers having eight, others nine, and others ten; they vary 
 also very considerably in size in most of the blossoms, one or two or 
 more of the petals in a single flower being often in a very marked degree 
 larger or smaller than the rest of their companions. Many of the plants 
 will be found, to have the whole of their leaves spotted over with large 
 
 o 
 
42 
 
 DESCRIPTION OF PLATES. 
 
 blotches of a paler green colour ; others, as our example, being of one 
 general colour. Specimens of Pilewort must be searched for during 
 April, in such places as damp woods, or damp shady situations in 
 general. Their presence is generally considered to be injurious to 
 grass or other plants, and to indicate poverty of soil. 
 
 No. 93. The Small Wild Convolvulus.—This beautiful little plant 
 is very frequently to be met with in corn-fields, twining up the stems of 
 the corn, and wreathing them with its beautiful foliage. The leaves of 
 the selected plant are more pointed than they are generally found. The 
 detached round-headed leaf, though not so ornamental in character as 
 the other, is the ordinary type-form. The remaining space on the sheet 
 is filled by ornamental arrangements of the plant. 
 
 No. 94. The Tormentil. — This graceful little wild flower grows 
 most freely where we find but little else to repay our search, appearing 
 to flourish best on bare open moors and commons. It will be found 
 nestling down amongst the heath and coarse grass, spotting the waste 
 bleak land with its brilliant starry blossoms. As the plant is represented 
 of its natural size, it is perhaps scarcely necessary to say that the one 
 large flower upon the sheet is not an example of a peculiarly well- 
 developed flower, but is merely enlarged, the better to show the beautiful 
 form of the calyx. The figure below the one just referred to is a plan 
 of the calyx, with the ripening fruit within it after the petals have 
 fallen off. Occasionallv we find amongst the other flowers one having 
 five instead of four petals. The leaves are generally sessile—that is to 
 say, they have not a leaf-stalk, but unite at once with the main stem: 
 an example has, however, been introduced to show that this sessile 
 arrangement is not an absolute and unchangeable one. 
 
 No. 95.—In the few remaining sheets we propose illustrating in 
 some small degree the application to ornament of the sheets that have 
 gone before ; and though the space allowable for such a purpose must of 
 necessity be very limited, sufficient, we trust, will yet be given to prove 
 that an infinite variety of ornamental treatment is opened up to the 
 designer in the study of Nature. The three plants employed upon the 
 present sheet are the Chinese Lantern Plant (Sheet 69), the Corn-flower 
 (Sheet 8), and the Meadow Vetclding (Sheet 25). The three examples 
 afford us an illustration of what are termed units of repetition. Each 
 piece is just one-sixth of a plate-border ; and the design is so arranged 
 that if five other and similar pieces were put together, the result would 
 be a circular band of continuous ornament. 
 
 In the remaining sheets, the plants selected for illustration are—upon 
 
DESCRIPTION OF PLATES. 
 
 43 
 
 Sheet 96, the Ivy-leaved Antirrhinum (Sheet 84), and the Bramble 
 (Sheet 57), in the two running borders ; the Ragged Robin (Sheet 43), 
 and the Mistletoe (Sheet 88) in the two centre figures. 
 
 On Sheet 97 we have four other illustrations of units of repetition, 
 intended in this case not for running enrichment, but for the decoration 
 of large surfaces, such as wall-papers or muslins. The first example is 
 suggested by the Yellow Horned Poppy (No. 91), the second by the 
 Woody Nightshade (No. 19), the third by the Flowering Rush (No. 78), 
 and the last one on the sheet by the Crown Imperial (No. 59). It will 
 be noticed in the third example that the flowers and buds are on little 
 stems, and that these all spring from one point on the central stalk. 
 This mode of inflorescence is called an umbel, and it is one of the leading 
 characteristics of a large natural order of plants, of which the Hemlock, 
 Celery, Parsley, and Fennel are well-known examples. 
 
 The remaining three plates, 98, 99, and 100, are examples of the 
 use of plants as borderings for book illustrations. The natural plants 
 that suggested them will be found represented on Sheets 34, 46, and 68 
 respectively. 
 
 It would have been easy to multiply examples had space permitted ; 
 but a sufficient number has, however, been given to indicate the richness 
 of the treasure that is afforded by a study of Nature; and it need 
 scarcely be pointed out that many very beautiful plants have not been 
 employed at all in these few sheets of ornamental adaptations. Such 
 plants as the Mallow, Convolvulus, Hop, Wild Rose, &c., will at once 
 occur to the designer as being capable of affording material quite as 
 beautiful in its adaptation to ornament as any of the plants that have 
 been chosen as examples. 
 
 While engaged in searching in various botanical works for informa¬ 
 tion suitable to our present purpose, I have found much that has seemed 
 curious and interesting, and well worth reproduction, though it has not 
 possessed any immediate bearing upon our actual object, the employ¬ 
 ment of natural forms, or their more or less conventional treatment in 
 ornamental art ; at the same time I felt strongly that others might feel 
 an equal interest, and have resolved therefore to add it at the close of 
 these descriptions in a collective form. 
 
 The older botanists seem to have been ever seeking for practical 
 medicinal qualities in the plants they found growing about them, reason¬ 
 ing that all things were created for some good use, and setting them¬ 
 selves, to the best of their abilities, to discover the special application of 
 each particular plant: it is on this account we find such common English 
 
44 
 
 DESCRIPTION OF PLATES. 
 
 names of plants as Lungwort, Nipplewort, All-heal, Wormwood, and 
 many others. Some of these ideas, no doubt, bore the test of practical 
 experiment, and would be of great value at a time when foreign drugs 
 of greater efficacy and power were not easily procurable; and this faith 
 in the benefits derivable from the wild plants growing in the neighbour¬ 
 hood of the country cottager, or carefully transplanted to his garden, is 
 still very strong in most rural districts, sometimes on the sole merits of the 
 plants themselves, but perhaps more frequently associated with super¬ 
 stitious additions to increase their power. In Sussex, for instance, I 
 have seen a person rubbing the hands with the inside furry sort of lining 
 of the garden broad-bean to remove warts, and then going off in a rather 
 mysterious and furtive way. On inquiry, I found that to complete the 
 cure it was necessary that the patient should secretly and securely hide 
 the piece of bean that had been employed, because if found by any one 
 before the next day the charm would be broken, and the healing power 
 would come to nought. 
 
 On looking over old botanical works, the reader is at once struck 
 with the multiplicity of diseases that any one plant was reputed to heal, 
 and also the immense number of wild plants seemingly available to the 
 purpose. Almost all had good repute for the alleviation of some of the 
 ills of humanity ; but a doctrine of resemblances, a sort of homoeopathic 
 creed of “ like curing like,” seems to have been held in especial favour. 
 Two examples, out of many that might be given, will suffice to illustrate 
 this. A plant having spotted leaves, resembling somewhat in their 
 markings the human lungs, was on that account called Lungwort, and 
 held to be, as a matter of course, an appropriate remedy in all pulmonary 
 complaints ; and the leaves of the Herb Robert Crane’s-bill, turning 
 a brilliant crimson in the autumn, were therefore plainly held to be 
 efficacious in stopping the flow of blood from a wound. 
 
 Gerarde, a famous botanist of the time of Queen Elizabeth, was a 
 great advocate and authority for these remedies. He was superintendent 
 of the herb-garden of Lord Burghley, who was himself a great lover of 
 plants, and a most enthusiastic collector of all kinds of foreign speci¬ 
 mens. In the year 1593 Gerarde published a book, dedicated to his 
 patron, Lord Burghley, and entitled “ A Catalogue of Trees, Fruits, and 
 Plants, whether British or Foreign, in the Garden of John Gerarde, 
 Citizen of London.” A second edition was called for in three years, and, 
 his former patron being dead, dedicated, after the custom of the time, 
 with much elaborate panegyric, to Sir Walter Raleigh. One of his 
 remedies affords an amusing illustration of the common saying respecting 
 
DESCRIPTION OF PLATES. 
 
 45 
 
 “ a remedy being worse than the disease; ” but it is, nevertheless, put 
 down in all good faith. In speaking of one of the Buttercup family, he 
 says,—“ Many do use to tie a little of the hcrbe, stamped with salt, 
 unto any of the fingers against the pain of the toothache, which medicine 
 seldome faileth, for it causeth greater pain in the finger than was in the 
 tooth, by means whereof the greater pain taketh away the lesse,” 
 
 Other plants frequently mentioned are the Holly, Toadflax, Mallow, 
 and Yellow Iris : the Maple-root for liver complaints, Ivy-berries for the 
 plague, Thorn-apple and Groundsel for external application in inflamma¬ 
 tions, Woody Nightshade for fever and rheumatism, Stone-crop for scurvy 
 and dropsy, Cinquefoil leaves made into a drink for ague, Ilarts’-tongue 
 for convulsive disorders, Avens-root for wounds, intermittent fevers, 
 agues, &c. Some of our English plants are very powerful in their effects ; 
 two of those, for instance, just mentioned, would, in the hands of an 
 ignorant prescriber, very soon put an end to all further need of medical 
 advice : thirty berries of the Woody Nightshade administered to a dog 
 killed it in less than three hours, while the results of eating Thorn-apple 
 are set down in a medical work with terrible brevity and force—“ light¬ 
 headedness, insanity, convulsions, palsy, death.” 
 
 Another point that could not well be illustrated in the preceding 
 pages is a brief consideration of the names given to plants ; and though 
 it would be impossible in the present limited space to give anything like 
 an exhaustive treatment of the subject, it would be well, perhaps, to 
 bestow, at all events, a little thought upon it, because the names used, 
 whether the ordinary English of the countryman or the scientific terms 
 of the learned botanist, may generally be found, on analysis, to be 
 capable in themselves of throwing fresh knowledge and interest on the 
 flower that may be in question. 
 
 The nomenclature of plants may, I think, be fairly divided into 
 eight distinct sections, in some one of which most if not all the names 
 employed may be classed. 
 
 First. Names arbitrarily chosen, that is to say not in themselves 
 conveying any increase of knowledge or association in any w r ay respecting 
 the plant named. Examples of this are, however, by no means so common 
 in Botany as in some of the kindred branches of Natural History,—as 
 for instance Entomology, where we find Euphrosyne , Cory don, Adonis , 
 and Artaxerxes as the names of British butterflies ; names distinctive 
 of the particular species by general usage and adoption only, and not on 
 account of any special appropriateness in the names themselves. Here, 
 however, it will be advisable to point out that it does not, as a matter of 
 
 p 
 
46 
 
 DESCRIPTION OF PLATES. 
 
 course, follow that because a word seems utterly meaningless even after 
 long consideration that it is so ; for though Latin and Greek are, as a 
 rule, the bases on which the scientific terms are founded, they are by no 
 means exclusively so ; and in the common every-day names of the plants 
 corruptions have largely crept in, and old Saxon and English words per¬ 
 verted beyond all recognition. One or two examples will illustrate this 
 more fully. Datura , the generic name of the Thorn-apple, may be long 
 analyzed in vain, and judged by any possible Latin or Greek derivation 
 seems utterly without meaning. It derives its name from the Arabic 
 word for the plant, Tatorah. Rubus , the generic name of the Bramble 
 family, will be found, on investigation, to be exceedingly appropriate to 
 the prickly plants that bear it. It is derived from the Celtic verb reub, 
 to tear. 
 
 Secondly. Names defining some characteristic of the plant, either 
 in comparing it with some other plant, as V. hederifolia, the Veronica 
 with ivylike leaves ; or expressing colour, as S. nigrum , the Black 
 Nightshade ; or defining its mode of growth, as R . repens , the Creeping 
 Crowfoot; or giving an idea of its place of growth, as R. aquatilis , the 
 Water-Crowfoot ; pointing out any striking peculiarity of form to the 
 eye, as S. sagittifolia (Lat. sagitta , an arrow ; folium , a leaf), the Arrow¬ 
 head ; or appealing to any of the other senses, as acre , expressing pungency 
 and bitterness of taste ; foetidus , offensiveness of odour ; mollis , softness 
 to the touch. This is of necessity a very large section, when the immense 
 variety of expressive names is borne in mind, that can be thus given, owing 
 to various circumstances in the history of any plant ; and many more 
 examples might readily have been brought forward, my desire being 
 merely to make the idea suggestive, leaving it to the reader to amplify 
 the thoughts thrown out to any extent that his interest in the subject 
 may dictate. The second name of the plant will generally be found most 
 capable of analysis in this way ; it is what is termed the specific name, 
 and is used to point out a particular species of plant; whereas the first 
 name is termed generic, and is employed to define a genus or group of 
 plants agreeing in some botanical particulars : this may be considered 
 as the surname of a family borne by all its members, but each in addi¬ 
 tion having their own distinctive appellations, their specific names : for 
 example, a number of plants agreeing in certain important respects are 
 classed together under the name of Solanum; and in addition to this 
 name, which each one must bear, they have distinctive names of their 
 own, in order that it may be known which Solanum is referred to ; thus 
 we have S. nigrum , S. dulcamara , S. tuberosum , &c. 
 
DESCRIPTION OF PLATES. 
 
 47 
 
 Thirdly. Names may be given to record the discoverer of a plant 
 or the introducer of it into England, as L. Humboldtii, discovered by 
 the great Humboldt in Tropical America ; or they may be given in 
 honour of some great man, or as a monument to his memory, as for 
 instance Teesclalia , named after Robert Teesdale, a botanist; Hutchinsia , 
 after a Miss Hutchins ; Cherleria , after Cherler ; and Bartsia, after 
 Bartsch, a Prussian botanist and friend of Linnmus. 
 
 Fourthly. Names are sometimes given to plants from a supposed 
 resemblance to some other objects ; and this being an appeal to the 
 imagination and powers of observation, we shall naturally in every 
 country expect to find it a large class. English illustrations are very 
 abundant ; it will suffice to mention merely a few as illustrations,— 
 Crane’s-bill, Colts-foot, Hound’s-tongue, Hart’s-tongue or Seaweed Fern, 
 Fly Orchis, Bee Orchis, Spider Orchis, Batchelor's-buttons, Bird’s-foot 
 Trefoil, Hare’s-foot Trefoil, Monk’s-hood, Shepherd’s Needle, Dog’s-tooth 
 Grass, Finger Grass, Cat’s-tail Grass, Cock’s-foot Grass, Cup Lichen, 
 Maiden Hair, Ox-eye Daisy, Shepherd’s Purse, Turk’s Cap, Goosefoot, 
 Crowfoot. This same idea is also carried out in the scientific nomen¬ 
 clature of plants. The blossoms of the Pea family are called papiliona¬ 
 ceous, or butterfly-shaped, from the resemblance of the upper part of the 
 flower to a butterfly resting with its wings turned up over it; and the 
 beautiful little Harebell belongs to the order Gampanulacece , from the 
 resemblance of its flowers to a little bell (Lat. campanida). The Crane’s- 
 bills are called Geraniums , from the Greek word geranos , a crane; Lycopus, 
 from two Greek words signifying wolf’s-foot, from a supposed similarity 
 between the shape of the leaves of that plant and the paw of a wolf. 
 
 Fifthly. The name may be given on account of some domestic value 
 the plant possesses or once possessed; to give only one example—the 
 Bedstraw. This plant when dried was formerly very generally employed 
 as a stuffing for beds, instead of the more modern hair or straw; hence 
 its practical use has given it a name, that has long outlasted the custom 
 that originated it. 
 
 Sixthly. A plant may be called by some name implying its use 
 in medicine or its effect upon man or the lower animals. Dogbane, 
 Wolfsbane, Henbane, Self-heal, Eye-bright, Birthwort, Liverwort, 
 Woundwort, Milkwort, and the Lungwort, All-heal, and Wormwood, 
 already referred to, may be regarded as illustrations of this class. 
 
 Seventhly. The area of distribution of a plant, as Vulgaris , common ; 
 Cambrica, occurring in Wales ; Europceus, found throughout Europe; 
 Norvegica , a native of Norway. 
 
48 
 
 DESCRIPTION OP PLATES. 
 
 Eighthly. Having reference to some superstition or legend. A good 
 example of this will be found, both as regards the English and the 
 scientific terms, in the name applied to the plant represented on Sheet 24, 
 Lysimachia Vulgaris , the Yellow Loose-strife. Lysimachia is a compound 
 from two Greek words, signifying battle-dissolving, or the loosing of 
 strife ; an idea exactly carried out in its common English name. Pliny 
 mentions it as being valuable in restraining restive horses, and an old 
 English writer, though apparently with somewhat shaken faith, speaks 
 of it as “ taking away strife and debate between beasts, not only those 
 that are yoked together, but even those that are wild also, by making 
 them tame and quiet, which, as they say, this herb will do ; if it be 
 either put upon their yokes or their necks, which how true I leave to 
 them who shall try and find it so.” The DeviFs-bit Scabious is another 
 example, for we are told that in olden time this plant, but more 
 especially its root, was so efficacious in healing the ills of human nature, 
 that the great Enemy of mankind bit off the greater part of it, and in 
 proof of this statement, anyone may see on pulling up the plant, that 
 the root comes to a sudden termination, giving the idea that it had 
 originally been much longer, but on some account had come to an 
 abrupt stoppage. This belief in Satanic influence, either triumphant or 
 foiled, shows itself constantly in the writings of the Middle Ages ; the 
 common Avens for instance, Sheet 81 , was generally known as the Herb 
 Bennet, a corruption of the old monkish “ Herba Benedicta,”—the blessed 
 plant. In explanation of this, one of the old writers affirms that 
 “ where the root is in a house, the evil one can do nothing but flee 
 before it, wherefore it is blessed above all other herbs.” The legend 
 associated with the Forget-me-not is so well known and has so often 
 been introduced in various books, that I need only refer to it as a 
 concluding example of the influence of legends in giving names to plants 
 concerned in them. 
 
 It must be remembered that the same plant may sometimes be 
 known by two or three different names according to the date of the 
 book appealed to, if the scientific name is in question, or the part of 
 England if the popular name is the point of difficulty. As an illustration 
 of the scientific changes, we may instance the case of the Wild Hyacinth. 
 It was originally termed by Linnaeus the Ilyacinthus-non-saiptus, and it 
 may now be met with in modern books as Ilyacinthus nutans or 
 Agraphis nutans. As an English example the Ragged Robin may be 
 cited. In Sowerby’s excellent work on English wild plants, the following 
 synonyms are given : “ Rose of Heaven (Ragged Robin is supposed to 
 
DESCRIPTION OP PLATES. 
 
 49 
 
 be a corruption of this), Smooth Lychnis, Meadow-pink, Wild Williams, 
 Crow-flower, and Cuckoo-flower.” The Corn-flower, Sheet 8, is also in 
 some parts of the country called Blue-bottle and Hurt-sickle, the first 
 name referring to its colour and form, the second to the injurious 
 effects its tough wiry stems are reputed to have upon the reaper’s 
 sickle. The Fritillary, Sheet 61, is sometimes called Snake’s-head. The 
 flower is subject to much variety of colour and marking, and is 
 sometimes chequered over in distinct squares of lurid purple and 
 dull green ; the form of the bud when thus spotted over makes Snake’s- 
 head a very appropriate name. 
 
 Lastly. Any person endeavouring to identify some flower that he 
 may have found, either by illustrations in books, or by a written 
 description, must bear in mind the immense influence that soil, sunlight 
 or the want of it, a dry season, and many other circumstances exercise: 
 and though there is a distinct type-form in all cases, it is very liable 
 to alterations more or less noticeable. A daisy growing close to the 
 ground, on a hard and dusty road, is a very different looking plant to 
 one growing in the soft turf of a meadow. It need scarcely be said, 
 that for the purposes of ornamental art, those plants that are most fully 
 developed and perfectly grown should be selected; for though dry seasons 
 and many other untoward influences may mar the beauty and symmetry 
 of individual plants, it is not as a rule desirable to employ in ornament 
 forms of imperfect development, but rather so far as possible to work 
 out a true impression of the real loveliness of the flower selected, 
 remembering that “all noble ornamentation is the expression of man’s 
 delight in God’s work.” I feel that I cannot do better in conclusion 
 than quote the following extract from one of the works of our most 
 earnest and powerful living writer on art:—“ Remember, whatever the 
 work you have to set yourselves to, whatever the toil you have to 
 undergo, it will be only rightly performed, rightly undergone, if you go 
 first to the highest source of all truth. Look back to history, fearlessly 
 and accurately, and you will find this one thing forced upon you 
 perpetually by the lives of artists. Giotto was primarily a painter and 
 sculptor; he is secondarily the richest of all designers in mosaic and 
 marble. Cellini, in all branches of metal-work, was a perfect imitator 
 of nature in all its lesser branches, and produced the best designs for 
 the lip of a cup. Holbein, wonderfully gifted in noble art, becomes 
 secondarily one of the most exquisite designers of embroideries. Michael 
 Angelo, primarily versed in drawing of body and limb, distributes in 
 mightiest masses the order of his pillars, and in the loftiest shadows 
 
 Q 
 
50 
 
 DESCRIPTION OF PLATES. 
 
 the hollows of his dome. Keep hold of this clue, and there is no 
 branch of art which is not open to it, but lose hold of it, quit hold 
 of this central love of nature, and set yourself to the designing of 
 ornamentation in ignorant belief of your own artless fancy, as the Indian 
 does, or according to received application of artless law, as the modern 
 European too often does, and there is but one word for you then, death 
 of every healthy faculty and every noble intelligence, incapacity of ever 
 understanding one great work that man has done, or of doing anything 
 that it shall ever be beautiful for man to behold. By cutting yourselves 
 off from nature you cut yourselves voluntarily and presumptuously and 
 insolently from the whole teaching of your Maker and His universe; 
 you cut yourselves off, not because you are forced to mechanical 
 labour for your bread, but because you wilfully bind up your eyes 
 from the splendour of nature ; and what can remain for you then but 
 helolessness and blindness, except the worse fate than that of being 
 blind yourselves, that of being leaders of the blind? Ask yourselves 
 what is the leading motive that actuates you while at your work. I 
 do not ask you what your leading motive is for working, that is a 
 different thing; you may have families to support, parents to help, 
 brides to win—these and all other such sacred and pre-eminent motives 
 may urge you to your morning’s labour, and your evening’s thought; 
 but when you are fairly at the work, what is the motive then that 
 tells upon every touch of it ? If it is the love of that which your 
 work represents; if, being a landscape-painter, it is the love of hills 
 and trees that moves you; if being a figure-painter, it is love of human 
 beauty and human soul that moves you; if being a flower-painter, it is 
 love, and wonder, and delight in petal and in pod that moves you, 
 then the spirit is upon you, and the earth is yours; but if, on the 
 other hand, it is petty self-complacency in your own skill, or a hope 
 for academical or for popular approbation, it is quite possible that by 
 steady industry, or by fortunate chance, you may win the applause, and 
 the position, and the fortune that you desire ; but one touch of true 
 art you will never lay on canvas or stone as long as you live.” No 
 addition of mine can in any way add greater force or clearness to the 
 plain truth thus so eloquently enforced, and I can only hope that the 
 present series of drawings may be of service to the practical ornamentist, 
 not only on their own account, but also as pioneers to guide him to a 
 thoughtful study for himself of the inexhaustible store from which these 
 few specimens were taken. 
 

 
 
 
 
 
 
PLATE 91 
 
 

 
 
 
 
 
 9 
 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 i 
 
PLATE 9?,. 
 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
PLATE 33 
 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

PLATE 94 
 

PLATE 95. 
 

PLATE 96 
 
PLATE 97 
 
 
 
 


 
 
 
PLATE 98. 
 
PLATE 9£ 
 

PLATE 100 
 
GENERAL INDEX. 
 
 1. Mallow (Malva sylvestris). 
 
 2. Groundsel (Senecio vulgaris). 
 
 3. Nasturtium (Tropseolum majus). 
 
 4. Hop (Humulus lupulus). 
 
 5. Spindle-tree (Euonynius Europseus). 
 
 6. Vine and other leaves. 
 
 7. Dog-rose (Rosa canina). 
 
 8. Cornflower (Centaurea Cyanus). 
 
 9. Oak (Quercus pedunculata). 
 
 10. Small garden Convolvulus (Convolvulus 
 
 minor). 
 
 11. Large garden Convolvulus (Convolvulus 
 
 major). 
 
 12. Hai’ebell (Campanula rotundifolia). 
 
 13. Thorn Apple (Datura Stramonium). 
 
 14. Sowthistle (Sonchus oleraceus). 
 
 15. Guelder Rose (Viburnum opulus). 
 
 16. Clarkia pulchella, var. alba. 
 
 17. Various forms of leaves. 
 
 18. Potato (Solanum tuberosum) and Birds’-foot 
 
 Trefoil (Lotus corniculatus). 
 
 19. Woody Nightshade (Solanum Dulcamara). 
 
 20 . 
 
 21. Forget-me-not (Myosotis palustris). 
 
 22. Large Willow-herb (Epilobium hirsutum), 
 
 23. Stenactes speciosa. 
 
 24. Yellow Loose-strife (Lysimachia vulgaris). 
 
 25. Meadow Vetchling (Lathyrus pratensis). 
 
 26. Maple (Acer campestre). 
 
 27. Holly (Ilex Aquifolium). 
 
 28. Corn Marigold (Chrysanthemum segetum). 
 
 29. Spider-wort. 
 
 30. Radish (Raphanus sativus). 
 
 31. Ansemotheca cruenta and Pelargonium scu- 
 
 tatum. 
 
 32. Hemlock-leaved Crane’s-bill (Erodium Cicu- 
 
 tarium). 
 
 33. Bloody Crane’s-bill (Geranium sanguineum). 
 
 34. Herb Robert Crane’s-bill (Geranium Ro- 
 
 bertianum). 
 
 35. Perennial Dove’s-foot Crane’s-bill (Geranium 
 
 Pyrenaicum). 
 
 36. Borage (Borago officinalis). 
 
 37. Asparagus (Asparagus officinalis). 
 
 38. Garden Avens (Geum Chilensis). 
 
 39. Common Feverfew (Chrysanthemum Par- 
 
 thenium). 
 
 40. Pteris crenata, and other leaves. 
 
 41. Cuckoo-pint (Arum maculatum). 
 
 42. Toad-flax (Linaria vulgaris) and Oxlip 
 
 (Primula elatior). 
 
 43. Ragged Robin (Lychnis Flos-cuculi). 
 
 44. Honeysuckle (Lonicera Periclymenum). 
 
 45. Virginian Creeper. 
 
 46. Cinquefoil (Potentilla reptans). 
 
 47. Scarlet Runner. 
 
 48. Snowberry'(Symporicarpus racemosus). 
 
 49. Fuchsia. 
 
 50. Ivy leaves (Hedera Helix). 
 
 51. Yellow Welsh Poppy (Meconopsis Cambrica), 
 
 52. Ox-eye Daisy (Chrysanthemum Leucan- 
 
 themum) and Greater Stitchwort (Stellaria 
 Holostea). 
 
 53. Pink Campion (Lychnis dioica). 
 
 54. Marsh Marigold (Caltha palustris). 
 
 55. Trifid Hemp-agrimony (Bidens tripartita). 
 
 56. Yellow Jessamine. 
 
 57. Blackberry (Rubus corylifolius). 
 
 58. Pink Persicaria (Polygonum Persicaria). 
 
 59. Crown Imperial (Fritillaria imperialis), &c. 
 
 60. Various forms of leaves. 
 
 61. Fritillary (Fritillaria Meleagris, var.). 
 
 62. Limnocharis Humboldtii. 
 
 63. Wild Hyacinth (Hyacinthus-nutans) and 
 
 Daisy (Beilis perennis). 
 
 64. Crowfoot or Buttercup (Ranunculus acris). 
 
 65. Globe-flower (Trollius Europseus). 
 
 66. Wild White and Blue Mountain Anemone 
 
 (Anemone nemorosa and Anemone Ap- 
 pennina). 
 
 R 
 
52 
 
 GENERAL INDEX. 
 
 67. Bamboo (Bambusa vulgaris). 
 
 68. Hawthorn (Crataegus oxyacantba). 
 
 69. Chinese-lantern Plant (Dielytra spectabilis). 
 
 70. Various forms of leaves. 
 
 71. Mourandia Bai’clayana. 
 
 72. Arrowhead (Sagittaria sagittifolia). 
 
 73. Oxalis Boweiana. 
 
 74. Doryopterispedata, Baubinia aculeata, Mimosa 
 
 sensitiva. 
 
 75. Petunia. 
 
 76. Large Wild Convolvulus or Bindweed (Calys- 
 
 tegia sepiurn). 
 
 77. Climbing Buckwheat (Polygonum Convol¬ 
 
 vulus). 
 
 78. Flowering Push (Butomus umbellatus) and 
 
 other leaves. 
 
 79. Cotton-grass (Eriophorum polystachyon) and 
 
 Fine-leaved Heath (Erica cinerea). 
 
 80. Doryopteris palmata, Berries of White Bryony 
 
 (Bryonia dioica), &c. 
 
 81. Wild Avens (Geum urbanum). 
 
 82. Garden Strawberry. 
 
 83. Yellow Iris or Flag (Iris pseudacorus). 
 
 84. Ivy-leaved Toadflax or Antirrhinum (Linaria 
 
 Cymbalaria) and Black Bryony (Tamus 
 communis). 
 
 85. Large Periwinkle (Vinca major) and Dande¬ 
 
 lion (Leontodon Taraxacum). 
 
 86. Harts’-tongue Fern (Scolopendrium vulgare). 
 
 87. Snowdrop (Galanthus nivalis) and Primrose 
 
 (Primula vulgaris). 
 
 88. Mistletoe (Viscum album). 
 
 89. Narcissus (Narcissus pecticus), Daffodil (Nar¬ 
 
 cissus pseudo-Narcissus), Ac. 
 
 90. Flowers of the Rue (Ruta graveolens), Lime 
 
 (Tilia Europaea), and Stone Crop (Sedum 
 Acre). 
 
 91. London Pride (Saxifraga umbrosa) and Yellow 
 
 Horned-poppy (Glaucium luteum). 
 
 92. White Dead-nettle (Lamium album) and 
 
 Lesser Celandine (Ranunculus Ficaria). 
 
 93. Small Wild Convolvulus (Convolvulus ar- 
 
 vensis). 
 
 94. Tormentil (Potentilla Tormentilla). 
 
 95. Ornamental arrangements of Chinese-lantern 
 
 Plant, Cornflower, and Meadow Vetchling. 
 
 96. Ornamental arrangements of Ivy-leaved An¬ 
 
 tirrhinum, Blackberry, Ragged Robin, and 
 Mistletoe. 
 
 97. Ornamental arrangements of Yellow Horned- 
 
 poppy, Woody Nightshade, Flowering 
 Rush, and Crown Imperial. 
 
 98. Ornamental arrangement of Cinquefoil. 
 
 99. Ornamental arrangement of Herb Robert 
 
 Crane’s-bill. 
 
 100. Ornamental arrangement of Hawthorn. 
 
SPECIAL INDICES. 
 
 No. 1.—BRITISH WILD PLANTS. 
 
 Sheet No, 
 
 . 1 
 
 Sheet No. 50 
 
 99 
 
 2 
 
 99 
 
 52 
 
 ?? 
 
 4 
 
 99 
 
 53 
 
 
 5 
 
 99 
 
 54 
 
 >? 
 
 7 
 
 99 
 
 55 
 
 99 
 
 8 
 
 99 
 
 57 
 
 99 
 
 9 
 
 99 
 
 58 
 
 99 
 
 12 
 
 99 
 
 63 
 
 99 
 
 13 
 
 99 
 
 64 
 
 99 
 
 14 
 
 99 
 
 66 (part of) 
 
 99 
 
 15 
 
 99 
 
 68 
 
 99 
 
 18 (part of) 
 
 99 
 
 72 
 
 99 
 
 19 
 
 99 
 
 76 
 
 99 
 
 21 
 
 99 
 
 77 
 
 99 
 
 22 
 
 99 
 
 78 
 
 99 
 
 24 
 
 99 
 
 79 
 
 99 
 
 25 
 
 99 
 
 80 (part of) 
 
 99 
 
 26 
 
 99 
 
 81 
 
 99 
 
 27 
 
 99 
 
 83 
 
 99 
 
 28 
 
 99 
 
 84 
 
 99 
 
 32 
 
 99 
 
 85 
 
 99 
 
 34 
 
 99 
 
 86 
 
 99 
 
 35 
 
 99 
 
 87 
 
 99 
 
 36 
 
 99 
 
 88 
 
 99 
 
 39 
 
 99 
 
 89 (part of) 
 
 99 
 
 41 
 
 99 
 
 90 (part of) 
 
 99 
 
 42 
 
 99 
 
 91 
 
 99 
 
 43 
 
 99 
 
 92 
 
 99 
 
 44 
 
 99 
 
 93 
 
 99 
 
 46 
 
 99 
 
 94 
 
 No. 2.—CULTIVATED AND FOREIGN 
 PLANTS. 
 
 I have included in this section the Globe 
 Flower, Bloody Crane’s-bill, Yellow Welsh 
 Poppy, Blue Anemone, and Narcissus; for 
 though they are really British flowers, they 
 
 are very rarely met with in a truly wild state. 
 They may frequently be found in cultivation 
 
 as garden flowers. 
 
 Sheet No. 3 
 
 Sheet No. 49 
 
 99 
 
 6 
 
 99 
 
 51 
 
 99 
 
 10 
 
 99 
 
 56 
 
 99 
 
 11 
 
 99 
 
 59 
 
 99 
 
 16 
 
 99 
 
 61 
 
 99 
 
 18 (part of) 
 
 99 
 
 62 
 
 99 
 
 20 
 
 99 
 
 65 
 
 99 
 
 23 
 
 99 
 
 66 (part of) 
 
 99 
 
 29 
 
 99 
 
 67 
 
 99 
 
 30 
 
 99 
 
 69 
 
 99 
 
 31 
 
 99 
 
 71 
 
 99 
 
 33 
 
 99 
 
 73 
 
 99 
 
 37 
 
 99 
 
 74 
 
 99 
 
 38 
 
 99 
 
 75 
 
 99 
 
 40 
 
 99 
 
 80 (part of) 
 
 99 
 
 45 
 
 99 
 
 82 
 
 99 
 
 47 
 
 99 
 
 89 (part of) 
 
 99 
 
 48 
 
 99 
 
 90 (part of) 
 
 No. 3.—WATER PLANTS. 
 
 Sheet No. 21 
 
 » 
 
 99 
 
 99 
 
 22 
 
 54 
 
 62 
 
 Sheet No. 72 
 
 „ 78 (part of) 
 
 99 
 
 83 
 
 No. 4.—CLIMBING PLANTS. 
 
 Sheet No. 4 
 
 „ 6 (part of) 
 
 99 
 
 99 
 
 99 
 
 99 
 
 99 
 
 n 
 
 25 
 
 44 
 
 45 
 47 
 
 Sheet No. 56 
 
 99 
 
 99 
 
 99 
 
 99 
 
 99 
 
 57 
 
 76 
 
 77 
 84 
 93 
 
54 
 
 SPECIAL INDICES, 
 
 .No. 5.—CHARACTERISTIC SPRING 
 PLANTS. 
 
 Sheet No. 41 Sheet No. 87 
 
 55 
 
 55 
 
 55 
 
 54 
 
 63 
 
 66 
 
 >5 
 
 89 
 
 55 
 
 92 
 
 No. 6.—CHARACTERISTIC SUMMER 
 PLANTS. 
 
 Sheet No. 
 
 55 
 
 5 ? 
 
 7 
 
 10 
 
 11 
 
 55 
 
 21 
 
 22 
 
 55 
 
 55 
 
 24 
 
 36 
 
 Sheet No. 43 
 
 55 
 
 55 
 
 44 
 
 53 
 
 55 
 
 59 
 
 55 
 
 72 
 
 55 
 
 75 
 
 55 
 
 76 
 
 Sheet No. 78 
 
 Sheet No. 85 
 
 55 
 
 55 
 
 82 
 
 83 
 
 55 
 
 55 
 
 91 
 
 94 
 
 No. 7.—CHARACTERISTIC AUTUMN 
 PLANTS. 
 
 Sheet 
 
 No. 8 
 
 Sheet No. 28 
 
 55 
 
 9 
 
 „ 57 
 
 55 
 
 15 
 
 „ 77 
 
 55 
 
 26 
 
 » 79 
 
 No. 8.—CHARACTERISTIC WINTER 
 PLANTS. 
 
 Sheet No. 27 
 „ 50 
 
 „ 88 
 
 •WYMAN AND SONS, PEINTEES, GEEAT QUEEN STEEET, LONDON, W.C. 
 
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