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| ISBN-13: | 9780486155395 |
|---|---|
| Publisher: | Dover Publications |
| Publication date: | 04/10/2013 |
| Series: | Dover Pictorial Archive |
| Sold by: | Barnes & Noble |
| Format: | eBook |
| Pages: | 144 |
| File size: | 28 MB |
| Note: | This product may take a few minutes to download. |
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Decorative Plant and Flower Studies
for Artists and Craftsmen
By J. FOORD
Dover Publications, Inc.
Copyright © 1982 Dover Publications, Inc.All rights reserved.
ISBN: 978-0-486-15539-5
CHAPTER 1
APPLE BLOSSOM.
Nat. Ord. Rosaceæ
FEW of our English flowers are richer in decorative qualities than the various fruit blossoms : the apple, the cherry, the pear, and the plum all being so full of delicate beauty, both of form and colour, that it is difficult to give preference to either ; while some of the many varieties of the black thorn in our hedges are quite equal to the cultivated trees in the material they offer to the designer. Among these the apple has perhaps an advantage in coming rather later than the others, when the young foliage has already made considerable growth, so that its flowers are set among the fresh soft green of the young leaves instead of on bare stems, and also that it has a more clustered arrangement than the plum or the black-thorn, the flowers springing from the branch in well grouped masses surrounded by the radiating foliage, instead of in their more scattered growth.
The apple does not often grow to a great height, but old trees sometimes reach thirty or thirty-five feet; occasionally even more. The growth is full of character, the gnarled grey stems dividing into twisted knotted branches, which spread in a more or less horizontal direction, often with a pendulous droop in the smaller boughs at the extremities. The young trees are generally more erect, but the growth differs slightly in different varieties, though all retain the same general characteristics. The drawing of the stems is full of interest and delicate form, with sudden turns and sharp angles, and with the thickened ringed bark at the joints. The leaves are ovate, tapering to a point, with flexible stems which give a valuable effect of looseness in the clustered grouping ; the edges are irregularly serrated, the netted veining strong and clear, and the lower sides of the leaves are soft and woolly, and of a pale grey, contrasting with the stronger colour of the upper surface. In the young leaves, as seen at the time of the blossom, this is of a bright fresh green, but later they grow much darker, and greyer and more reserved in colour. On the young shoots their order is generally alternate, but in the older growth it is irregular, forming clusters of radiating leaves surrounding the flowers, or leafy terminals in which the beautiful folding of the opening leaves should be noticed, and the long pointed bracts at the base of the stalk.
The flowers grow in well-massed umbels, those in the centre being the first to open, surrounded by later buds. Each blossom has five long pointed sepals which are folded over the bud, then, opening with the flower, gradually become reflexed, lying back against the stem ; five concave petals, opening out to a broad cup-shaped corolla, in the centre of which is the soft loose fringe of stamens and anthers. The petals are of a silky semi- transparent texture, and the whole flower is beautifully delicate in colour, the corolla of a faint shell-like pink, splashed at the edges, on the outer side only, with a deeper rose, the buds being often entirely flushed with the darker tone ; while the calyx, with the stems or pedicels, is of a pale green softened with a covering of velvety down ; in the centre of the flower the loose fringed anthers give a suggestion of palest yellow, deepening as it fades, and the whole dainty mass of the umbel of blossom is set in the soft fresh green of the surrounding leaves.
The apple is the most typically English of all our fruits, and flourishes and comes to its greatest perfection in all parts of the British Isles. Hereford, Worcester, and to a less extent Devonshire are the principal apple producing counties of the present day, but Gerard, in 1509, states that they were especially plentiful in Kent, and both he and Parkinson write of an " infinite number of varieties, and of many medicinal virtues and quaint uses." The crab and several other wild apples are indigenous, and not uncommon in our hedges, in fact the apple grows more or less freely in all parts of Europe, excepting in extremes of heat and cold, as well as in parts of North America, Western Asia, and in China and Japan. It is known to have been largely cultivated in the neighbourhood of Rome, and is supposed to have been introduced into England by the Romans ; it is mentioned frequently in their writings, as well as in those of the Greeks. It was offered on the altars of Hercules ; later it was worshipped by the Druids with the oak, in connection with the sacred mistletoe; and we read of it in many old legends, in the well-known mythological tales of the golden apples,—or oranges,—of the Garden of the Hesperides, the Judgment of Paris, etc. ; in old Norse and Scandinavian folklore, and in many quaint stories and superstitions of later mediaeval times.
Both the flowers and fruit have been largely used in decorative art ; the former, with all the fruit blossoms, especially and most worthily, by the Japanese ; in our modern western design it has suffered greatly from hackneyed and unstudied mediocre renderings, but it still offers endless opportunities in the hands of conscientious workers, who realize its greater dignity and charm in a more severe and truthful rendering.
THE EVENING PRIMROSE.
Nat. Ord. Onagraceæ.
THE Evening Primrose is one of the commonest of our garden flowers, and one that in broad daylight attracts but little notice, with its tall spikes of closed or fading blossoms. But in the evening, when many other flowers are closing, if we stand and watch it for a little time we see first one and then another of the closed buds suddenly unseal the enclosing sepals and fold them back, and quite visibly and quickly, while we watch, the bud expands, the folded petals gradually loosen, and in a few minutes the big cup-like blossom appears fully opened and in all the beauty of its most delicate colour, the pure light gold of the flowers gleaming pale in the soft grey of the dusk, and shedding a faint subtle scent on the still dew-laden air.
But apart from its charm of pure delicate colour, and the illusive beauty of the twilight effect, the Evening Primrose has also much of the real decorative quality of beauty of form. The large well opened blossom, with the long sepals turned back with quaint effect, the tall spikes of buds and flowers, and the simple undulating leaves are rich in suggestion.
The herbaceous plant rises from a cluster of radical leaves with a tall straight stem, generally erect, but not rigidly vertical, sending out lateral branches, each also terminated with spikes of blossom. These give a certain bushy effect, but the central spike always rises above them forming a distinct head. The leaves are lanceolate-elliptical, with strong clearly marked midrib, the edges simple, but the surface more or less undulating ; from the axils of the leaves the lateral branches and the blossoms of the flower-spikes spring. The tapering bud is enclosed in the long segments of the calyx, which form a valuable decorative feature of the open flower ; the corolla consists of four large petals, inversely deltoid; these enclose eight anthers on long slender stamens, and a projecting cruciform stigma on a long style. The flower is sessile, having no stem, though at first sight this is not very evident, owing to the stem-like effect of the long tube of the calyx running down to the ovary or seed-vessel, which is closely set in the axil of the leaf. A section of this calyx- tube is shown in the page of detail drawings. The seed-vessel remains long after the flower has fallen, and grows to about one-and-a-half inches in length. As the lower blossoms fall, fresh buds develope and open above, forming a continually growing spike, and giving a long succession of blossom, although the life of each individual flower lasts only a few hours. The plant grows to a height of from four to six feet, and the radical leaves are from six to twelve inches in length, while those of the stem are from three to six inches long.
The evening primrose is a native of North America, but it is now very common in English gardens, where it quickly spreads ; and in some few places, especially on the Lancashire coast, it has established itself as a wild flower, growing in great patches on bits of waste land and common, and forming, even in broad daylight, when comparatively few of the flowers remain open, a beautiful harmony of pale gold set in the deep dull green of the foliage, relieved by the lighter tracery of the stems and the valuable note of deep soft orange in the fading blossoms.
PYRUS SPECTABILIS.
Nat. Ord., Rosaceæ.
PART of the large order of the Rosaceæ, the genus Pyrus, the old Latin name for the Pear Tree, now embraces not only the very decorative and useful pear and apple, but also a large number of beautiful hybrid flowering trees and shrubs, of which Pyrus Spectabilis may be taken as one of the finest and most representative. It has all the airy lightness of growth of the pear or cherry blossom, throwing out spreading umbels of dainty long-stemmed flowers, more or less drooping, among the fresh vivid green of the young leaves ; and at the same time the delicate colouring of the apple, a pale shell-like pink, splashed on the outer side of the thin semi-transparent petals with a slightly deeper tone, while the light fringe of long-stamened anthers give a faint suggestion of soft yellow in the centre of the flower. With the delicate petals, however, the resemblance ceases, the calyx and stems taking a deep bronze where the rose mingles with the green, forming a telling contrast to the paler tones, while the leaves are of a strong warm yellowish green, fresh and brilliant, and of a pale glaucous colour on the lower surface, the stems of the older wood being of a light ashen grey.
Like so many of the most beautiful of our flowering shrubs, it is of Eastern origin, growing in China and Japan, and was brought to us from the former country in 1780. It grows freely in England, sometimes in sheltered positions, attaining a height of from twenty to thirty feet, sometimes under less favourable conditions, taking a lower and more branching growth, and remaining merely a bushy shrub. As a standard tree it rises with straight strong trunk, and, at from three to five feet from the ground, divides into spreading branches, which again send out numerous long flexible lateral shoots, each thickly set in early spring with the clustering pendulous masses of mingled flowers and leaves.
The umbels of blossom grow from short spurs set at close intervals on the branches, forming long swaying wreaths of flowers and foliage, each blossom on its long flexible stalk supported by a blunt five-toothed calyx. It is semi-double, and the numerous ovate incurved petals taper to a slender pointed inguis, or hooked terminal, at their base, this thread-like tapering attachment giving the great effect of looseness and buoyancy, which is such a strong characteristic of the flower, and such a valuable quality from a decorative point of view. The buds are of the typical rosaceæ form ; the incurved petals folded over each other taking a close globular shape supported and held together by the enclosing segments of the toothed calyx which rise from the ovary. The buds are generally erect, but sway and droop as the petals unfold and the flowers gain weight, keeping as they open rather the spherical form of the pear blossom than that of the wider, flatter flower of the apple. The lanceolate leaves, also with long lissom stems, are of decided ovate shape, more or less blunt and square at the apex, with curling incurved edges irregularly serrated, and billowy undulating surface ; the veining being clearly marked, and forming thick raised cords on the lower surface. The colour is a strong, warm, yellowish green, much paler and greyer on the reverse of the leaf. The shrub blooms very freely, producing a profusion of delicate pink and white blossoms in April or May ; these, however, quickly fall, the light petals being scattered by the wind, and in common with other semi-double hybrids, it does not produce fruit.
With its clustering well-massed growth of flowers and leaves, its radiating flexible stems, and the interest and charm of the well-opened blossoms, Pyrus Spectabilis seems peculiarly rich in the decorative qualities which are of value to the designer.
THE DAFFODIL.
Nat. Ord., Amaryllidaceæ.
THE name Daffodil is simply a corruption of the old English "afro dyle," meaning "that which cometh early" ; and it is very early in the spring, or rather almost in the late winter, that the first of its pale green spikes may be seen pushing up through the moist brown earth in our gardens, and in many parts of England in our woods and meadows. The root is a bulb, with smooth pale brown outer covering which is carried up forming a dry scarious sheath protecting the young leaves. From each sheath, of which there may be two or more to a bulb, spring two or three flat green leaves, closely packed together, and rising in a strictly vertical direction until they have attained about two-thirds of their height. Then they take freer, more swaying lines, and from between them the tall straight scape or flower stem appears, with its terminal bud. The leaves are straight-veined, linear or strap-shaped, tapering towards the rounded point, and from twelve to eighteen inches high. The flower stem, which rises a little above the leaves, is strong and thick, the upper part flattened with two well-marked angles running down its length. The bud is enclosed in a protecting green spathe, but as the flower unfolds, this becomes dry and scarious, and takes a thin transparent texture. At first it is erect, but, as it opens it becomes depressed, till in the flower the axis is more or less horizontal or drooping. The blossom consists of a perianth tube rising from the ovary, with six spreading perianth segments ; within which the crown, which in the Narcissus is flat and cup-shaped, is in the Daffodil lengthened to a long trumpet-shaped funnel, which at the apex expands with a graceful spreading curve, the edge being curled and crenulated, and rather reflexed. Within the funnel and attached to its sides at the base, are six long stamens with large anthers, and a long style with three-partite stigma.
The Daffodil is one of the most popular of our spring flowers, and in every garden, in March, " the roaring month of daffodils," the tremulous yellow blossoms, so delicate and fragile, will be seen swaying and tossing above the long straight wind-swept leaves; while more especially in the south-western counties, where it is found in rich profusion as a wild flower,—growing in woods and sheltered copses, on the river banks, and in the open fields,—it spreads in great flowery stretches, shining brilliant in the sunlight, and forming innumerable starlike dots of pale colour in the shadows. The leaves are of a beautiful subtle grey-green, while the outer segments of the flower are of the palest yellow, and the long inner tube is of a deep rich gold. The general effect is of a scheme of upright growth, yet with strong sweeping graceful lines that prevent any severe effect, and the whole plant is beautifully balanced, and full of decorative feeling.
Only the short-crowned yellow variety and the pheasant's eye seem to have been known to the Greeks and Romans, but in the sixteenth and early seventeenth centuries there were many varieties ; and Gerard, Parkinson, and Tradescant, that earnest trio of lovers of nature, all cultivated them enthusiastically in their gardens in Holborn and Chelsea, producing many new varieties. We read that we are indebted to Tradescant for the large double daffodil, or "Lent Lily," which was known as "John Tradescant, his great rose daffodil." Another was "Gerard's double daffodil"; and of his own Parkinson writes lovingly : " I think none ever had this kinde before myself, nor did I myself ever see it before the year 1618, for it is of mine own raising and flowring in my garden." But it is evident that this noted trio of herbalists, generally unanimous, had differences of opinion about the daffodil, Gerard vouching for its medicinal virtues, "as hath been prooued by an especial and trusted friend of mine, a man learned, and a diligent searcher of nature, Master Nicholas Belson, sometimes of King's Colledge, in Cambridge"; while Parkinson writing later, says of the species: "Howsoever Dioscorides and others doe give vnto some of them special properties both for inward and outward diseases, yet know I not any in these days with vs, that apply any of them as a remedy for any griefe, whatsoever Gerrard or others have written."
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Excerpted from Decorative Plant and Flower Studies by J. FOORD. Copyright © 1982 Dover Publications, Inc.. Excerpted by permission of Dover Publications, Inc..
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Table of Contents
Contents
DOVER PICTORIAL ARCHIVE SERIES,Title Page,
Copyright Page,
INTRODUCTORY NOTE - BY MR. LEWIS F. DAY.,
AUTHOR'S PREFACE.,
APPLE BLOSSOM.,
THE EVENING PRIMROSE.,
PYRUS SPECTABILIS.,
THE DAFFODIL.,
BROOM.,
THE FLOWERING RUSH.,
THE TULIP TREE.,
COBIA SCANDENS.,
THE HOLLYHOCK.,
THE RHODODENDRON.,
THE MARROW.,
REST HARROW.,
THE ASH.,
THE PRIVET.,
THE ARBUTUS, OR THE STRAWBERRY TREE.,
THE ARBUTUS, OR THE STRAWBERRY TREE.,
MOUNTAIN RANUNCULUS.,
THE CUCKOO FLOWER.,
THE YELLOW IRIS.,
THE NARCISSUS.,
THE BLUEBELL, OR WILD HYACINTH.,
PYRUS JAPONICA.,
THE PURPLE ANEMONE.,
SALSIFY.,
DIERVILLA ROSEA.,
SPIDERWORT.,
THE RED CAMPION.,
MEADOW CRANESBILL.,
THE CORN SOW THISTLE.,
THE FOXGLOVE.,
JACOB'S LADDER.,
THE WINTER CHERRY.,
PHLOX.,
KERRIA JAPONICA.,
SWEET SULTAN.,
CLEMATIS VITICELLA.,
THE AZALEA.,
THE OLEANDER.,
BARLEY.,
THE SNOWBERRY.,
THE SPINDLE TREE.,