It should not be imagined that the gayest and most brilliantly coloured members of the plant world are always residents of the tropics. The hot countries undoubtedly produce many specimens of startling hue and pattern, but it is often their ostentation and exotic character, rather than their beauty or charm, which attract attention. They are apt to be a bit barbaric and not as numerous as they are reputed to be. For great masses of beautiful flowers, we do not go to Mid-Africa or Cuba, but to the mountain-bound meadows of the Alps, the plains of Australia, or the prairies of America. What is more startlingly beautiful than a field of Yellow Buttercups or Black-eyed Susans which can be seen anywhere in the eastern United States? Where can our eyes feast upon a more wonderful scene than a field of Wild Verbenas and Delphiniums as found in Texas? In the tropics the flower masses are more scattered. Even the far-famed Orchids are only abundant in occasional favoured spots.
The gardens of our large country estates offer floral displays which cannot be rivaled anywhere. Our temperate zone Roses, Peonies, Hollyhocks, Wistaria, Lilacs, Lilies, Tulips, Hyacinths, Gentians, Asters, Anemonies and Poppies are the most delicate colour creations in existence. For brilliance and alluring charm nothing surpasses the Mountain Laurel and Rhododendrons of the East, or the Trumpet Vine and Yellow Jessamine of the South. The gorgeous Azalias, Camellias, Pelargoniums, Calceolarias and Cinerarias also belong to the regions which have cold periods in their annual weather schemes. Even the humble Gorse is clothed in gold, while the prickly and much-despised Cactus bears little crimson-coloured bells.
It is quite evident that man got his original idea of colour from Nature, particularly the plant world. Why is it that we are inclined to wear green in spring, brown in autumn, and all manner of colours in summer? Simply because, consciously or unconsciously, we are imitating Nature. We take pigments and dyes and get a pale similitude of an exquisite flower. If it happens to be a Rose, we name the colour after it. Sometimes we name tints after the sky or an animal or a bird, but in these cases, we might just as well have gone to the flowers for our nomenclature.
Every tint and hue which we can ever hope to reproduce is present in the plant world. The flowers by no means monopolize them. On close examination, a single stalk and leaf exhibit a wonderful variety of colour. In the Begonia and the Sea Holly, the stalks are exactly the same colours as the flowers. The wild Cranesbill sports a crimson stem. The stalks of Poplar leaves are a vivid yellow. To speak of “green leaves” is to speak in the most general of terms. What is more exquisite than the silver gray to be seen on the backs of many tree-leaves, notably the Alders, Willows, and Poplars? Many leaves join the Wild Lettuce in having purple backs. The reverse sides of Magnolias and Rhododendrons are red-brown. In the autumn, nearly all leaves show brilliant patches of colour.
In borrowing Nature’s colours to set forth our ideas, we have become possessors of a mighty vehicle of expression. With yellow, we can speak of life, light, cheer and vitality. Red tells of fire, heat, blood, excitement and passion. Blue indicates coolness, quiet and restraint. In choosing green for its most universal colour, Nature harmonizes life and restraint, warmth and coolness, as represented by the component blue and yellow. In the same way, when she wants to concentrate the maximum colour power in a single fruit or flower, she uses orange, a combination of light and heat, vitality and excitement. Purple represents a neutralized idea. Red vitality is tempered with blue restraint, which results in mysticism. Nature clothes the Poppy in red to suggest power and strength. The royal purple of the Aster and the Violet is purposely calculated to arouse a feeling of mystery and awe.
Our man-made cloth designs often show various plant forms intact in the weave. The same is true of lace, while one has only to look at the miniature flower gardens which women wear on their heads to realize the potent influence of plants in the domains of millinery. An important plant element seems to run through many fields of applied art.
In some ways, the beauties of form and structure are more appealing than chromatic charms. Lines are more refined and fundamental than colours. A feathery mass of tree-twigs seen against a distant horizon is exquisitely beautiful. A symmetrically shaped tree comes very close to presenting an idea of pure form. One may argue that it is impossible to dissociate all idea of colour from a natural object. This is theoretically true, but practically, while we are impressed by the colour of the Rose, it is the structural beauty of the Palm and Weeping Willow which attracts our eye.
Nature is the true and original sculptor. From her we learn our rules of symmetry and design. All her plant creations are finished with a faithfulness to artistic principles which is quite exact. Nor does she build houses with false exteriors. Her structures show forth the necessity of truth in real esthetic creation. Bartholdi’s exquisite Statue of Liberty, viewed from the interior, is an ugly, hollow tube. A stalk of corn not only has a pleasing exterior but is made up of symmetrically formed and packed interior cells. From a giant Redwood to a microscopic vegetable organism, every line and structural unit in the plant world is perfect in its inception and execution.
Each plant, viewed as a whole, has its own peculiar style of structural beauty—the variation of line and form which stamps it with charm. This differentiation extends to all parts of the plant and gives character to leaves, stem, flowers and fruit. Marvellous is the art worked out in the minute parts. The tendril of the Passion Flower, the radicle of a Seedling Maple, the feathery hair on a stalk of Mullein—all these are shaped according to the unknown law of beauty. Probably every geometrical form exists in some seed pod or fruit. The artistic little seeds of the Milkweed and the Dandelion are packed into their containers with a skill which cannot be duplicated, once they are dislodged. There are a million seeds in the capsules of certain Orchids. Many seed vessels are tipped, balled, carved and frescoed.
The same delicate touch is seen down to the last cell. Plant stems range from the common tubular variety to four-sided, hexagonal and octagonal forms. Trees exhibit exquisite mosaics in their rough bark. Bell-shaped flowers and flowers which are tubes, rings, ovals, trumpets, horns, and cones are only some of the pleasing shapes to be found in this part of vegetable anatomy.