FLOWERS. 27 



skill, which has so nicely adapted them to each other. 

 Let us see what they are. First comes the Calyx, 

 or the cup which supports the flower ; this is some- 

 times entire, but more frequently parted into divi- 

 sions, or segments, as they are called ; it is generally 

 of a pale green color, but, in some instances, as in 

 the Fuchsia, it is highly colored ; the Calyx also acts 

 as a covering for the seed-vessels. The delicate and 

 richly colored leaves or petals, which stand just with- 

 in the calyx form the corolla. Some flowers have 

 neither calyx nor corolla, and cluster around a pen- 

 dent spike, as in the Willow and Hazel ; these are 

 termed Catkins. At the base of 

 the corolla there generally appears 

 the Nectary, so called from its se- 

 creting a sweet fluid called nectar. 

 This is the store from which the 

 bee derives its honey, and from this 

 delicious fountain the lovely little 

 Humming -Bird, poised upon its Catkin, Hazel, 

 rapid wings, extracts through its slender bill the 

 sweet food which it conveys to its young. 



The most important organs in the flower are those 

 which produce the seed. These consist of two 

 principal parts, called Stamens and Pistils. They 

 mostly exist in the same flower ; but in some cases 

 they not only occupy separate flowers, but are pro- 

 duced upon separate plants. At the base of the pistil 

 is the seed-vessel or Ovary, which is composed of 

 one or more valves, differing in form in different 

 plants; a little thread-like stalk called a Style, 



