66 The Romance of Wild Flowers 
leaves are divided into three broad lobes or leaflets, 
and the petals of the flowers are white with the 
exception of a little yellow near the base, which is an 
indication to flies and bees and beetles that there the 
honey lies. The thread-like leaves are common to 
several aquatic plants having no relation one to the 
other, and show how similar surroundings cause hke 
adaptations in plants differing widely in structure. 
Such minute division enables the plant to expose a 
large surface to the carbonic acid gas dissolved in the 
water, without a large expenditure of material. 
Some insects alight on the petals of the Buttercups, 
then crawl over the anthers and stigmas, from which 
they reach down to the honey-glands, and so often 
effect self-fertilisation; others come straight to the 
centre and bring pollen from an earlier visit, and so 
cross-fertilisation is assured. 
In pastures and woods at a con- 
ihe siderable elevation there grows a 
(Si) glorified Buttercup with leaves 
“ a; ys 
divided like the fingers and palm of 
a hand, and with large globular 
i) pale- yellow flowers. It is the 
/; Globe-flower (Trollius ewropcus), 
= and its solid-looking blossoms owe 
i 
their fine appearance to the concave 
sepals, which may be any number 
from five to fifteen, enlarged and 
\ coloured to look like petals (petal- 
oid). The petals are there in 
equal number, but reduced to nar- 
row, oblong bodies that might pass muster among 
the numerous stamens, which are of similar length. 
Globe-flower 
eS. 
