HOW TO STUDY PLANT LIFE 75 



which, lying close to the ground, live over the 

 winter and make it possible for the plant to 

 bloom early in the following spring. There 

 is a cluster of leaves at the base of the stem and 

 these are toothed at the upper end ; but higher 

 up the stem the leaves are entire that is, not 

 cut into in any way. The stems are more or 

 less hairy, and on coming to the " flowers" 

 themselves we find them entirely different from 

 the simplicity of the Buttercups. At first 

 sight you may have thought the tiny, green 

 leaf -like objects close under the " flower" were 

 sepals, the pale bluish-purple ray a ring of pet- 

 als, and the golden center a dense mass of 

 stamens with, perhaps, some pistil hidden away 

 somewhere. But directly you begin to exam- 

 ine the " flower," to pull it to pieces and look 

 at it under your magnifying-glass, you find 

 that this theory will not work at all! The 

 plant is far more complex than you had imag- 

 ined. Pulling out one of the rays, holding it 

 by a dissecting-needle and placing it under the 

 magnifying-glass, you discover it to be a flower 

 in itself, entirely different from the complete 

 flower and the regular shape of the Buttercup, 



