Again, some white
flowers which are in a transition state show aspirations after
color, often so marked in individuals as to mislead one into
believing them products of a far advanced colored type. Also,
pale colors blanch under a summer sun. These facts must be borne
in mind, and the blue, pink, and yellow blossoms should be
investigated before the reader despairs of identifying a flower
not found in the white group.
YELLOW AND ORANGE FLOWERS
"All variations which render the blossoms more attractive, either
by scent, color, size of corolla, or quantity of nectar, make the
insect visit more sure, and therefore the production of seed more
likely. Thus, the conspicuous blossoms secure descendants which
inherit the special variations of their parents, and so,
generation after generation, we have selections in favor of
conspicuous flowers, where insects are at work. Their
appreciation of color, because it has brought the blossom
possessing it more immediately into their view, and more surely
under their attention, has enabled them, through the ages, to be
preparing the specimens upon which man now operates, he taking up
the work where they have left it, selecting, inoculating, and
hybridizing, according to his own rules of taste, and developing
a beauty which insects alone could never have evolved.
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