24 THE GARDEN OF EARTH 



The pistils and the stamens together carry out the 

 great task of SEED-GROWING. Stamens cannot do 

 this alone. Pistils cannot do it alone. They have 

 to work in company. 



Perhaps you may find it hard to believe that those 

 lovely pink and white petals, and those little soft 

 yellow-tipped stamens, are not only one in nature with 

 the green leaves, but also are one with each other. 

 This can be made more plain. The Wild Rose which 

 we have examined is what we call 

 " single." But now let us get two 

 more Roses ; not wild ones this 

 time, but a half-double Rose, and 

 another that is fully-double. 



What do we mean by " single " 

 and " double " ? 

 LEAF OF ROSE WITH Let us compare the three. The 



STIPTILES : a. apex of -i i i , 



the sheath. wild one has a single row of five 



petals, and a large array of stamens. 

 The half-double one has a great many more petals, and 

 not nearly so many stamens. The fully-double one has 

 very many more petals still it seems quite made up of 

 petals and no stamens. They have entirely vanished. 



Where can they have gone? And how is it that so 

 many more petals have appeared? Simply this that 

 the stamens have turned into petals. Curious, is it not ? 

 Both being in their nature leaves, they can be made by 



reful cultivation to change from the one form of leaf 

 the other. Stamen-leaves can become petal- 

 leaves; and petal-leaves can change again into stamen- 



