52 



EECEEATIVE SCIENCE. 



WAYSIDE WEEDS AND THEIE TEACHINGS, 



IN SIX HANDFIJLS. 

 HANDFUL I. CONCLITDED, 



There ffeiiiains yet, for examination, one 

 other part of tlie flower. Exterior to all the 

 organs we have hitherto described, you can- 

 not fail to have noticed a covering, or set 

 of coverings, to which, as they hold the 

 blossom generally, botanists have given the 

 name of calyx, or flower- cup (Figs. 2, 3, 9, 

 16, 19, 20, 21.) This calyx, moreover, has its 

 many differences, even in the limited number 

 of plants we have as yet examined. It is 

 divided, in most of our examples, like the 

 corolla, into separate pieces; and as the 

 divisions of the corolla are named petals, 



Fro. 19. — a, cal)'^ or 

 flower-cup of stitch- 

 wort ; b, stamens. 



FicJ. 20. — Expanding flower 

 of common poppy, throw- 

 ing off calyx, a. 



so are those of the calyx called sepals. 

 Generally speaking, the calyx, or flower-cup, 

 is green, but we see it in the wallflower (Fig. 

 7) more or less deeply coloured; and in the 

 buttercup (Fig. 2) yellowish in hue. Fre- 

 quently the number of the sepals, or calyx 

 divisions, corresponds to those of the corolla, 

 but not invariably, as we see in the poppy 

 (Fig. 20), in which there are but two divisions, 

 and these joined at the top, more or less 

 completely. Moreover, this poppy calyx 

 does not, as in the wallflower, the chick- 



weed, the violet, or the geranium, continue 

 attached to the flower, but is cast oflT while 

 in the process of floral expansion. 



Calyx, corolla, stamens, pistils — these, bear 

 in mind, are the parts of a perfect flotccr, 

 which always preserve the same relative 

 positions within one another. With the 

 exception of the lychnis, already noticed, 

 you will find it so in every plant in our 

 Handful. To make sure, look at the bright 

 white, well-named starwort, or stitchwort, 

 which we have not yet noticed ; all the parts 

 are just as you have seen them in the rest. 

 Differing in many respects, in this all our 

 plants agree — the petals are perfectly dis- 

 connected from one another, and from the 

 stamens, and with the stamens are fixed to 

 the little receptacle on which is placed the 

 pistil. Now these characters, as we call 

 them, though apparently unimportant to a 

 superficial observer, are far from being so to 

 a botanist; they mark. In fact, one division of 

 botanical arrangement — a division, more- 

 over, which comprises within its limits 

 many other plants and families of plants 

 beyond the few common weeds we have 

 selected as examples. The buttercup or 

 crowfoot family, or, as it is called botanl- 

 cally, the Hanunculus genus, is made up of 

 numerous individual members, all differing 

 from one another, but yet bearing the 

 general family face. Some so like that you 

 will not distinguish them till the dliference 

 has been pointed out ; others, though similar, 

 still so difi'erent, that you cannot mistake 

 them for each other. 



You have, in all probability, gathered 

 into your handful at random, a lot of Avhat 

 you call buttercups ; they have all flowers 



