MARSH-MARIGOLD. 



31 



apple with its three-parted projection is one 

 compound organ. This organ is the pistil. 

 The apple part is the ovary, the parted pro- 

 jection is the style, and the five little flat- 

 tened tips are the stigmas. We have now 

 discovered all the leading parts of the apple 

 flower, — the sepals, the petals, the stamens 

 with their anthers, and the pistil with its 

 ovary, three-parted style, and three stigmas. 

 We will now apply our knowledge to the 

 common marsh-marigold or " cowslip," which 

 gladdens every meadow swale in early spring. 

 (Fig. 36.) In this flower the sepals, appar- 

 ently, are 

 not present. 

 Here we 

 must r e- 

 member ar- 

 bitr arily 

 that when 

 either row of the floral envelope is wanting, 

 the botanist supposes that the petals are the 

 missing organs. It is therefore necessary to 

 call the showy petal-like leaves of the marsh- 

 marigold the sepals. Such showy sepals 

 are petaloid or " petal-like." The short sta- 

 mens and pistils in the centre of the flower 

 are clearly recognized, but instead of one 



Fig. 36. 



