Vlll 



INTRODUCTION. 



of the species, has been selected, as the part on which 

 to found every arrangement of plants which can lay 

 claim to accuracy or utility. A thorough knowledge of 

 its structure is therefore necessary before the student 

 can proceed to discover the names of the commonest 

 plants which are flung with so bountiful a hand over 

 our hills and fields. 



THE CALYX. This name is given to that part of the 

 flower which in the bud stage is outside all the rest, 

 and which when the flower is expanded encircles the 

 more delicate parts. It is usually green, and consists 

 of several leaves, termed sepals; but these sepals are 

 often united at the base and form a cup, (hence the 

 name calyx, a cup). 



It is unnecessary here to describe the various forms 

 of the calyx, which are very numerous. It may be re- 

 marked, however, that when the calyx is divided into 

 two distinct lobes, one of which overhangs the other, it 

 is termed gaping ; in the Mallow tribe, p. 110, it is 

 double; and in Compound Flowers, p. 319, the Valerian, 

 p. 311, and Teazel Tribes, p. 314, it is at first a mere ring, 

 but afterwards becomes a chaffy or feathery appendage to 

 the seed, termed a pappus. 



THE COROLLA. Within the calyx is the corolla (little 

 crown), a ring of delicate leaves called petals, usually 



coloured that is, not green and often fragrant. The 

 petals are either distinct, as in the Eose, in which the 



