HOW NEW PLANTS ARE STARTED 



112. Flower Parts. In the blossom of the common 

 pear 1 you can easily notice four whorls, each of a distinct 

 kind. (1) The outside whorl is made up of five green 

 leaves. (2) Next within is a whorl of five large white 

 leaves. The outside whorl is the calyx, and each of its 

 leaves is a sepal. The second whorl is the corolla, and 

 each of its leaves is a petal. (3) The base of the calyx 



STAMINATE FLOWERS AND POLLEN OF CORN PLANT. 



supports a third whorl of several thread-like parts. These 

 are the stamens. Each stamen has at its tip a little sac 

 called the anther. (4) At the center of the blossom are 

 the pistils, three to five of them. They resemble the 

 stamens. Their stalks or styles all come from one point 

 at the center of the flower, but lack the brightly colored 

 heads or anthers, and have green heads, or stigmas, instead. 

 Were we to pull apart the urn-shaped base of the calyx, 

 we should find the pistils extending to the center of the 



1 If the pear blossom is not available for this examination, the teacher or 

 class can easily find some other flower that shows sepals, petals, stamens* 

 and pistils, though the number of parts may differ from those of the flower 

 described here. 



