22 Field, Forest, and Wayside Flowers 



In this crocus, however, the sepals not only rival 

 the petals, but outdo them in prettiness. 



Within the flower's chalice are three stalks, each 

 topped with a long, golden head. These are the 

 stamens. 



The long heads are powder-boxes, and the yel- 

 low dust which they contain has a power as won- 

 derful as that of any fairy's wand. 



At the very heart of the crocus is a column, 

 tall and erect, surmounted by a fluted capital 

 tipped with gold. This is the pistil. Its duty, 

 in the floral division of labor, is to form, protect, 

 and, in due time, distribute the young seed. In 

 its lower part, at flowering time, we will find a 

 number of tiny green bodies destined to become 

 seeds, if all goes well. 



This crocus has just unfolded, and the baby 

 seeds within its pistil are not quickened yet. 

 They may never live at all, but wither with the 

 perishing flower, and thus die before they are 

 really born. Life can be given to them only by 

 the magic powder which the stamens contain. 



In the older works on botany this powder is 

 called " pollen," but the most recent books on the 

 wonders of plant-life give it a name more pon- 

 derous and technical, but well worth remembering, 



