CROWFOOT FAMILY 



nectar, and the bright petals outspread in the sun- 

 light, call to the bee. One after another, or in groups, 

 the stamens stand up, spread out and in time all the 

 pollen is gone. Then the sleepy ball of pistils awakens; 

 it, too, spreads out, each tiny pistil becomes sticky at 

 its upper point ready to catch any pollen a bee may 

 bring. So it comes about that the younger flowers pol- 

 linate the older ones, and no flower fertilizes itself. 

 The age of a flower can be estimated by the greenness 

 of its centre. If the centre is all yellow the flower is 

 young; if green is just beginning to show in the centre, 

 it is middle-aged; if the green is a decided ball the 

 flower is old. Finally the petals and sepals fall and 

 leave behind a green bunch of pistils with sometimes 

 a fringe of old stamens. Each pistil develops into a 

 true akene armed with a short hook which may help 

 it some day to catch a ride. 



Buttercups in quantity would be poisonous to 

 grazing animals, but the juices are so acrid that the 

 plants are untouched and stand a bunch of green leaves 

 and yellow blossoms even in closely cropped pastures. 

 Drying mitigates the poison and a few Buttercups in 

 hay are not considered to injure it. 



TALL MEADOW-RUE 



Thalictrum polygamum 



» 



Thalictrum^ derivation doubtful. 



Perennial. One of the most beautiful of our native, 

 summer-flowering plants, bearing a large, loose panicle 

 of soft white blossoms at the summit of a tall, erect stem. 

 Found in low, wet meadows, swampy places, and in up- 



68 



