Art-studies from nature, as applied to design : for the use of architects, designers, and manufacturers . of it, tosome other natural object; thus we get cranes-bill, cocks-footgrass, larks-spur, bee-orchis, pheasants-eye, and many othersuch examples among our common names for plants. As afamily, the buttercups must be regarded with suspicion on accountof their strongly developed acrid qualities; thus the leaves ofthe , if applied to the skin, will, in a very shorttime, cause large and painful blisters. The R. acris is equallypoisonous ; and the R. arvensts, or corn crowfoot, is extr
Art-studies from nature, as applied to design : for the use of architects, designers, and manufacturers . of it, tosome other natural object; thus we get cranes-bill, cocks-footgrass, larks-spur, bee-orchis, pheasants-eye, and many othersuch examples among our common names for plants. As afamily, the buttercups must be regarded with suspicion on accountof their strongly developed acrid qualities; thus the leaves ofthe , if applied to the skin, will, in a very shorttime, cause large and painful blisters. The R. acris is equallypoisonous ; and the R. arvensts, or corn crowfoot, is extremelyinjurious to cattle and sheep. The R. aquatilis does not possessthese dangerous qualities; on the contrary, it may be collectedand given as fodder in times of scarcity or drought, and theanimals will not only eat it, but thrive upon it. It is a very widely spread species : the placid waters of regions so differentfrom each other in climate as Lapland and Abyssinia are equallyfavourable to its growth, and the lakes and slowly runningstreams of California are powdered over with its brilliant blos-. Water Crowfoot. soms, as we see them in our English pools. The water crow-foot affords us also a beautiful example of that adaptability ofform to the circumstances of the plants existence which we mayso frequently trace in the works of nature. It will be noticedin the illustration that two very distinct forms of leaf are re- presented; and, on examining the natural plant, it will be foundthat the simpler form of leaf floats upon the surface of the water,while the lower and more minutely divided leaves are the respective positions of these leaves reversed, andit would speedily be apparent that the finely cut leaves wereunable to support the blossoms, and to expose them to thevivifying rays of the sun, while the simpler form of leaf would,by the action of the water, speedily be torn into long shreds,the principal veins alone remaining, and very much resemblingthe a
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Keywords: ., bookcentury180, bookdecade1870, booksubjectdecorationandornament
