It is a significant thing that there are few straight lines in plantdom. Everything is built in fascinating and alluring curves. There is a definite idea of symmetry to be observed everywhere. The beautiful, five-pointed, leaves of the Sweet Gum Tree are arranged so that each one fits into an interstice between two others and so obtains a maximum supply of air and light. In general, leaves nearest the ground are largest, thus insuring each its supply of sunshine.
When we study ornamental design, ancient and modern, we see plant forms on all hands. The Greeks and the Moors were the only nations to be content with geometric shapes and lines—and they were only content at times. All other peoples have given plants and flowers a large place in their decorative conceptions. The Egyptians and the Assyrians, who may be considered the first civilized artists, used the Palm, Papyrus, Lotus and Lily. The Greeks and Romans were partial to the Acanthus, Olive, Ivy, Vine, Fir and Oak. The Gothic art of Germany, France and Spain featured the Lily, Rose, Pomegranate, Oak, Maple, Iris, Buttercup, Passion Flower and Trefoil. The modern Chinese are more conservative and seek inspiration only from the Aster and the Peony. The Japanese use the Almond, Cherry, Wistaria and the graceful Bamboo in their art work. These various plant forms are sometimes quite conventionalized but are readily recognizable, whether they occur in architecture, carvings, paintings, illuminations, tapestries or cloth fabrics.
The plant world has been man’s most constant and readily apprehended artistic model. Yet when we see the multitude of attractive lines, curves and shapes in Nature’s great garden, we wonder that he has so limited his imitation. One rarely sees the Thorn-Apple, the Hawthorn, the Daisy or the Tulip in wood or stone, yet they are all exquisitely beautiful.
Again, artists and artisans throughout the centuries have nearly always confined themselves to but two phases of plant life—the leaves and the matured fruit. Tendrils have been neglected or treated with characterless mediocrity. Thorns, leaf stipules, buds, pods, and leaf scars have been universally overlooked. Who has ever seen the fruit of the Rose in ornamental art? Why is it no one has thought to use the leaf scars of trees like the Horse Chestnut as decorative units?
Grapes and Pomegranates are reproduced with some justice, but the various small berries almost always appear as miscellaneous spherical bodies, whereas they are really greatly varied. The Snowberry, Privet, Laurel and Barberry have distinct characteristics of form and shape.
There are chances for worlds of artistic expression in various seed pods and fruit vessels. An open Pea Pod occurs in certain Renaissance ornament. Why not (and this is not intended to be humorous) a String Bean?
Even a lowly thing like the scarred stalk of an old Cabbage has a pattern worthy of imitation. The shields or remains of leaves of former seasons form an artistic detail of the growing Palm Tree. The Romans occasionally reproduced them on their columns. Leaf shields are also met with in Greek border ornament.
Why must our sculptors represent the various fruits as bursting with mature mellowness? In many cases, the unripe fruit is artistically more attractive than when in the later stages of development.
We rarely think of disease or decay as being pleasing, yet some plants are artistic even in their dissolution. Certain galls and cankers draw beautiful designs on the bodies of their victims.
Everything in plantdom has its own peculiar style of structure and beauty. All are worthy of imitation and reproduction, provided only it is done in the right place and the right way. It must be remembered that, in origin, ornament was first symbolic and then decorative. Real ornament is never unduly prominent but subordinates itself to the idea and structure of the whole.