302 HOUSE, GARDEN, AND FIELD 



cups, though very similar, are not quite alike even to the 

 untrained eye. Sometimes we can assign no meaning to 

 the differences which we observe. We do not know why 

 some should have spreading, and some reflexed petals ; 

 some furrowed, and some smooth flower-stalks, but now 

 and then we can see more or less distinctly the practical 

 effect of a peculiar feature. We see that the upright 

 buttercup with its tall erect stem will have the advantage 

 in mowing grass ; the creeping buttercup with its numerous 

 runners the advantage in shallow, stony ground. Some 

 buttercups are more acrid than others, and deter more 

 effectually the bites of animals. The corn buttercup ripens 

 its nuts with the corn, and these nuts are spinous and 

 clinging, so that they are carried off with the sheaves, 

 thrashed out with the grain, and sown with it next season. 

 But how far are we from that kind of knowledge which 

 would explain all the differences that we tabulate ! 



The more ordinary buttercups, such as the upright 

 buttercup, show by the simplicity, distinctness and regu- 

 larity of the parts of the flower that they are among the 

 most primitive of flowering plants. Their very colour 

 is primitive, for yellow seems to be, next to green, the 

 most primitive of flower-colours ; it is also, next to green, 

 the most stable. The true buttercups do not deviate 

 greatly from what we suppose to have been the original 

 form of flower. The aquatic buttercups and the semi- 

 aquatic celery-leaved buttercup have lost the scale to the 

 honey-gland ; the aquatic buttercups have almost com- 

 pletely changed the original yellow on the petals to white ; 

 the celandine-buttercup has reduced its sepals to three, 

 and increased the number of its petals ; the small-flowered 

 buttercup has often fewer than the primitive number of 

 petals. The stem and leaves show a greater variety of 

 structure ; the simple leaves of the celandine-buttercup, 

 which are probably primitive, usually become more or 

 less cut ; the creeping buttercup throws out long runners ; 

 the bulbous buttercup has a starchy swelling at the base 



