SOME EARL Y FLO WERS 



CHAPTER VII. 



SOME EARLY FLOWERS. 



Of our many early wild flowers, which shall we 

 choose ? A large flower that is easy to understand, is best 

 to begin with, so we will take the peony. It is one of the 

 earliest, too ; in some parts of California its large red 

 flowers open before Christmas time. 



It has an underground stem and long, thick roots that 

 have stored the food to give it such an early start. The 

 peony has many large leaves, which stretch out to the sun, 

 let the light through their pretty slashes, roll the moisture 

 off their smooth surfaces, and behave generally like leaves 

 that must be in haste to finish their work before the rainy 

 season is over. They are soon able to replace the food they 

 have used from the storehouse, but they have other work 

 to do. There must be new peony plants ; that is, there are 

 seeds to be made, and this is the reason for the flowers. 



In the centre of the peony are the three cases that will 

 some day hold the seeds. These cases are called pistils. 

 The beginnings of the seeds are already there, little white 

 bodies, called ovules. The name is made from a Latin 

 word that means egg, for each ovule contains what is 

 called an egg cell. The little plant that a seed always con- 

 tains has not yet begun to form. The part of the pistil that 

 encloses the ovules is called the ovary. Above the ovary, 

 at the very top of the pistil, is a pair of thin lips that have 

 their inner surface sticky. This sticky surface is called the 



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