142 NATURE TEACHING 



these differences, all these flowers have the same general 

 plan : 



(1) Outer leafy bodies which may be all alike as in 

 the lily and tulip, or divided into two more sets as in the 

 buttercup. When the latter is the case we often find 

 only the inner row, the petals, coloured ; and the outer 

 row, then called sepals, green. Petals and sepals may 

 be separate, or joined up so as to form cup-like or tube- 

 like flowers. 



(2) Stamens, each consisting of a stalk, and a knob 

 containing pollen. 



(3) The pistil, consisting of a lower swollen portion, 

 the ovary (containing the ovules), and an upper portion, 

 the style, which may be long or short, and often ends in 

 a more or less hairy or sticky stigma. 



The lily, tulip, and buttercup have all these parts 

 contained in one and the same flower. They are examples 

 of perfect or complete flowers. The cucumber or vegetable- 

 marrow flower, on the other hand, is different. If a 

 flowering plant of either of these is carefully looked over, 

 two kinds of flowers may be distinguished even whilst 

 in the bud stage. Both, when open, are large and have 

 a yellow cup of petals. The centre of one is occupied by 

 a yellow column which is covered with pollen. The other 

 kind of flower has its centre taken up with a large, lobed 

 body, the stigma, sticky and covered with short hair; 

 and beneath the yellow petals is a swollen portion (obvi- 

 ously a very young cucumber or marrow), the ovary. 

 We have, in fact, here stamens and pistil in separate 

 flowers, which are respectively described as staminate 

 and pistillate. 



