HOW TO STUDY PLANT LIFE 71 



tails rather than graceful lines and good pic- 

 torial composition. 



EXERCISE III. 



Take a flower to pieces and draw an example 

 of each part, or whorl. The parts should be 

 separated with the thumb and the blade of a 

 sharp penknife. 



EXERCISE IV. 



Look up Tall Buttercup in your Flora and 

 study its full description with the plant in your 

 hand. If you are using Ma thews 's Field Book 

 you will find its description on p. 144. 



EXERCISE V. 



Write (immediately below your rough 

 sketches of the plant) the chief items of inter- 

 est connected with it. Such an entry might 

 run as follows : "Tall Buttercup, Ranunculus 

 acris Family Eanunculacese. (Here would 

 follow the date and place of finding.) Fibrous 

 root; erect, unfurrowed stem; some leaves 

 springing from the root, others from the stem ; 

 lower leaves three-lobed, each lobe again di- 

 vided ; upper leaves generally simpler ; flowers 



