FLOWER CALYX AND COROLLA. 5 



Pick three or four buttercups ; choose the tallest 

 you can see, and those which have smooth, round 

 stems, if you can find them. Look for them by the 

 roadside or in the meadow, and gather a few other 

 flowers as well. 



Now, I will take a buttercup, a single flower, and 

 hold it by the stalk, upright What a pretty yellow 

 cup it is ! As yellow as butter, is it not ? So children 

 hold it to each other's chins, and if it shines they say 

 that they are fond of butter. Shall I try you ? But 

 there, I hold it up again. 



And now I must tell you rather a long name. This 

 yellow cup is called the corolla. (Fig. 3c.) Corolla is 

 a word of a foreign language (Latin), and means 

 " little crown " or " garland. ' 



Have you a cowslip, or a primrose, or a dandelion 

 in your bunch ? They have, like the buttercup, the 

 corolla yellow. But look at the daisy or, have you 

 a piece of May ? There it is white. And you have 

 another instance in the snowdrop, which you know so 

 well. Sometimes the corolla is blue, as in the forget- 

 me-not, or the speedwell, or the violet. Sometimes it 

 is red, as in the little pimpernel or the poppy. 



If you look over the flowers you have gathered, 

 you will see corollas of different colours, different 

 sizes, and different shapes. 



But it is time to tell you of another part of the 

 flower. Let us go back to the buttercup. There is 

 the yellow cup ; but a cup should have a saucer. Can 



