196 SAGACITY AND MORALITY OF PLANTS. 



The calyx-parts are highly developed and attractively 

 coloured, and the parts which ought to have per- 

 formed the work (the petals) are dwarfed and incon- 

 spicuous — dethroned, in fact ! 



The order Ramcnculacecs is a very suggestive one 

 in this respect. It abounds in illustrations of the 

 economic and other changes here discussed, and 

 some of its members, such as the Anemones^ Marsh 

 Marigold {Caltha paltistris), etc., carry them to the 

 extremest degree. In these flowers the brilliant and 

 glossy red and yellow parts are not petals, as many 

 people naturally suppose, but the sepals of the calyx, 

 which have been promoted to do petal duty ; whilst 

 the petals have been dwarfed to mere abortions. 

 The richly supplied nectaries will be found at the 

 base of the sepals. A good many Buttercups possess 

 calyx-parts which are said to be petaloid, or coloured. 

 Perhaps the reason for so many modifications among 

 the Ranuncnlacece is that they are nearly all her- 

 baceous plants. 



Both in this order, and more especially in that of 

 the Poppies, we find an understood arrangement 

 that if the sepals cannot help the petals, at any rate 

 they shall not stand in their way. In such cases 

 the sepals fall off as soon as the flower expands, and 

 are termed fugacious. In the Tuberous Buttercup 

 {Rammcidus ttiberostis), and in most if not all of the 

 Poppies, the sepals drop off immediately, leaving the 

 vividly-coloured corollas without a single drawback. 



