6 EXAMINATION OF [CHAP. 



5. Proceed next to note that there are, in the flower, 

 five separate outer leaves arranged in a whorl j small, 

 coloured yellow, and either spreading or sharply curved 

 back, according to the kind of buttercup you are examin- 

 ing. These leaves are each entire that is, without the 

 ilobes or divisions of the foliage-leaves. They fall off 

 early, and hence may be described as deciduous. These 

 five outer leaves of the flower are singly termed calyx- 

 leaves or Sepals ; together they form the Calyx of the 

 flower. The sepals being/r^, that is, separate from each 

 other and from the other parts of the flower, the calyx is 



<*oy 



6. Immediately inside the calyx are five rather larger, 

 separate, nearly sessile, brightly coloured leaves. These 

 also are arranged in a whorl, and they are singly placed 

 opposite to the intervals between the sepals ; not opposite 

 to the sepals themselves. Like the sepals they are de- 

 ciduous. Singly, they are the corolla-leaves or Petals ; 

 the five together form the Corolla of the flower. The 

 petals being free, the corolla is polypetalousj being equal 

 in size and form, it is also regular. 



7. In the examination of the rest of the 

 flower much nicety is required. Having 

 stripped off the sepals and petals singly, 

 and laid them aside, proceed to the third 

 series of flower-leaves. 



These are veiy different in form and 

 structure from both sepals and petals, 

 though, like them, they are all free ; that 

 is, distinct from, and independent of, each 

 other. They each consist of a lower stalk- 

 like portion, bearing an upper somewhat 

 thickened, oblong, and grooved head. This 

 FIG. 3. Stamen stalk is termed the filament; the oblong 

 of Buttercup, head which it supports, the anther; and 

 these together constitute a staminal leaf 

 or Stamen. The stamens of the buttercup are shorter 

 than the petals. As they are numerous, considerably 



* The prefix poly- (TTOAU'J, many) is used when applied to sepals 

 nnd petals, to denote that the sepals or petals are/ra? rather than 

 that they are actually many in number. Usually there are not 

 more than three, four, or five sepals or petals in a flower. 



