12 FLOWERS- OF "THE WOODS AND COPSES 
The petals are usually imperfect, and the honey-gland has no scale. 
The sepals are constantly as yellow as the petals, The carpels, seated 
on raised points of the receptacle; are downy. Unlike some other 
Crowfoots the root is fibrous. 
The stem is 1 ft. to 15 in. in height. Goldielocks flowers from 
April to May, before the trees are in bud or leaf. The plant is 
perennial, deciduous, and herbaceous, 
The nectary assumes a great variety of forms. The corolla is 
seldom regular, and some petals are usually wanting or functionless, 
Photo. Messrs, Flatters & Garnett 
GOLDIELOCKS (Ranunculus auricomus, L.) 
some or all being stunted, while the sepals have a bright yellow flat 
portion, and partly or wholly take the place of petals. The sepals may 
be fringed. The honey-glands are at the base of the modified petals. 
Some petals are reduced to honey-secreting cavities, as in Winter 
Aconite, and all sorts of transitions to this stage may be found. 
In the more perfect petals the underside of the triangular base of 
the petal has a thickened border each side, which fuses below and 
forms a pit for the honey where they meet. In the more perfect petals, 
too, honey is secreted by two small pits, to the right and left, on the 
broader thickened margin. In very stunted petals on the inner sidé of 
the base of the two laminz or blades two honey canals, separated by a 
fold, are deeply sunk. There are two types of pollen. In some 
intermediate forms no honey is secreted. Hymenoptera (Apide, 
Formicidae), Diptera’ (Syrphide, Muscidz), Thysanoptera (777s) 
Visit it. 
