350 



ORDER RANDNCULACE^E. 



bears ; and the tip of this, which is rather more shining, and 



somewhat wider 

 than the style it- 

 self, is the stigma 

 (.434). Every 

 one of these car- 

 pels contains a 

 single ovule or 

 young seed ; it re- 

 quires, however, 

 some dexterity to 

 make its contents 

 apparent. The 



FIG. 131. PARTS OF THB FKNVKR OF THE COMMON RANUN- ovule when YOUng, 

 TULUS, OR BUTTERCUP. 1, one of the petals, with the scale 



:it the bottom on the inner side ; 2, one of the carpels, show- Occupies but a 



ing a, the ovary, b, the style, and c, the stigma: 3, section of 0.,]] -n nr f n f tliP 

 the unripe carpel, showing rf, the ovule within it ; 4, section 



of the matu;e carpel filled with the seed a, the embryo, cavity of the car- 

 b, the albumen.; 5, the carpels and some of the stamens, , , 



implanted on the receptacle. P el > m time, how- 



ever, it increases, 



so as to fill it completely. After the calyx, corolla, and stamens 

 have fallen off, the cluster of carpels remains and ripens into the 

 fruit of the plant. They undergo little change of form, though 

 increasing in size ; but they become dry, brown, and hard, re- 

 sembling seeds. Though they are ordinarily taken for such, 

 they are, as just shown, the seed-vessels, each containing but one 

 seed. When this is the case, as it is in Corn, the carpels are 

 termed grains. If the grain be cut through, nothing but a solid 

 mass of white flesh will be met with, of which all the portions 

 seem alike ; unless the section have passed exactly through the 

 centre, when there may be distinguished, near the base of the 

 seed, a minute oval body, which may be taken out of the flesh 

 upon the point of a needle. This oval body is the embryo of the 

 young plant, with its two cotyledons ; and it is embedded in a 

 separate albumen (. 439). 



505. On looking at other parts of the plant, it will be 

 observed that the leaves are dark-green ; and that they are very 

 much divided by deep indentations. It will further be re- 



