22 



THE GARDEN OF EARTH 



stalk; and you will discover what look like five small 

 pointed leaves, green in colour, joined at the bottom 

 into one. This is the CALYX, and the pointed leaflets 

 are SEPALS. 



Sometimes a calyx is all in one ; sometimes the sepals 

 are all separate; sometimes, as here, they seem to be 

 half joined into one and half separate. It is this green 

 part which covered up the bud safely before it began to 

 open, and kept it warm and sheltered. The sepals 

 really are leaves, though rather 

 unlike the regular leaves of the 

 Rose. 



Within the green calyx we come 

 to another circle of leaf-shaped 

 things ; not green, but white, with 

 rosy tips; the prettiest part of 

 the flower its PETALS. These, 

 too, were folded protectingly over 

 the inner part of the bud, before it 

 opened; being themselves pro- 

 tected by the sepals. 

 In the Wild Rose there are usually five petals. All 

 the petals of a flower, taken together, are known as the 

 COROLLA, or crown; and they, like the sepals, may be 

 either joined into one, or half separate, or quite separate. 

 They are, indeed, the crown of the flower, both in positior 

 and in beauty. 



And the petals also of a flower are leaves ; different 

 in shape, different in colour, from the regular leave 

 and from the sepals, yet neither more nor less than 

 leaves. 



They are what we call modified leaves ; that is alt 



DIAGRAM OF ROSE 

 FLOWER. 



