ORDER RANUNCULACE.E. 



349 



CLASS I. EXOGENS. SUB-CLASS I. THALAMIFLOR.E. 

 Order RANUNCULACE^K, or Crowfoot Tribe. 



504. If we examine the btiacture of the flower of the com- 

 mon Crowfoot or Buttercup, so abundant in our meadows as to 

 be everywhere easily found, we shall observe the following to be 

 the plan of its formation. Beneath the yellow petals, there 

 may be seen Jive small greenish-yel- 

 low leaflets ; these are the sepals of 

 the calyx (. 455): they fall off 

 shortly after the flower opens. Within 

 these are five other leafy organs, of a 

 bright yellow colour on both sides, 

 which give to the Buttercup its gay 

 and glittering appearance ; they stand 

 up and form a little cup, in the bot- 

 tom of which the other parts of the 

 flower are curiously arranged ; these 

 are the petals of the corolla. At the 

 base of each will be seen, on the 

 inside, a little scale, from which honey 

 exudes. Within the corolla are found 

 a large number of stamens, with very 

 short filaments ; which, like the sepals 

 and petals, are all separately im- 

 planted on the receptacle. Almost 

 buried within the stamens, and occu- 

 pying the centre of the flower, are a number of little green 

 grains, collected as it were in a heap, and seated upon a small 

 elevation of the receptacle, into which the stamens, petals, and 

 sepals are all separately inserted. They are too small to be seen 

 readily without a magnify ing-glass ; but when enlarged in that 

 way, they are observed to be rounded at the bottom, and con- 

 tracted into a sort of' short bent horn at the top. Each of these 

 is a single carpel; the horn-like projection is the style whicn it 



Fre. 130. FLOWER-STALK OF MEA- 

 DOW CROWFOOT ; on the right, an 

 open flower and dry fruit ; on the 

 left, expanding buds; a, a, bracts; 

 b, calyx. 



