The Daisy's Pedigree, 27 



division of dicotyledons (the name is quite unim- 

 portant), you will find that it has at least some trace 

 of its original arrangement in rows of five. The 

 common stonecrop and its allies keep up the arrange- 

 ment best of any ; for they have each, as a rule, five 

 petals ; each petal has its separate bract, making a 

 calyx or flower-cup of five pieces or sepals ; inside 

 are one or two rows of five stamens each ; and in the 

 centre, a pistil of five carpels. Such complete and 

 original symmetry as this is not now common ; but 

 almost all the five-rowed flowers retain the same gen- 

 eral character in a somewhat less degree. The but- 

 tercup, for example, has one outer row of five sepals, 

 then five petals, and then several crowded rows of 

 stamens and carpels. And in the petals at least the 

 harmony is generally complete. There are five in 

 the dog-rose, in the violet, in the pea-blossom, in the 

 pink, in the geranium, and (speaking generally) in 

 almost every plant that grows in our gardens, 

 our fields, or our w^oodlands, unless it belongs to 

 the other great division of trinary flowers, with 

 all their organs in groups of three. And now, if 

 you will pull open one of the inner yellow florets of 

 your daisy, you will see that it has five stamens 

 and five little lobes to the bell-shaped corolla, to 

 show its ancestry plainly on its face, and ' to witness 

 if I lie.' 



