19 



And now ascending the stalk we come to this green cup at 

 the summit, which all the members of the botanical class will 

 recognise as the calyx. The component parts of this calyx, 

 i.e. the sepals, are five in number : that or some multiple of it, 

 as you know, is the prevailing number of organs in this divi- 

 sion of plants, though four shares the honour to some extent. 

 But you do not find that these sepals are separate as in 

 the case of the Rose, nor deciduous as with the Buttercup -, 

 they are all united, hence the calyx is gamosepalous, and it 

 encloses the seed vessel until its contents are perfected,- 

 hence it \^ persistent. You recognise the five sepals, however, 

 by the five points at the summit. 



Inside this calyx we come to the five coloured leaves or 

 petals forming the corolla, and these likewise are united — 

 gamopetalous. Concerning the colour of these petals Natu- 

 ralists are divided, though it is highly probable that many of 

 us have no doubts on the subject ; but if you gather numbers 

 of blossoms from different localities, you will find them varying 

 from light yellow to yellowish green, and in some parts of 

 England they are decidedly pink. Some call the colour green 

 because it turns green when dried, but that seems to me an 

 absurd reason ; this dried cowslip is blue, but I do not sup- 

 pose anyone would talk of blue cowslips. Inside the corolla 

 again we come to the stamens five in number; and here mark 

 a peculiarity. It is another general rule in the arrangement 

 of the organs of the flower, that each member of a circle of 

 organs is inserted opposite to the opening, between two mem- 

 bers of an outer or inner circle ; e.g. each petal is inserted 

 between two sepals, though inside, each stamen between two 

 petals and so on. But here, as you see, the stamens are in- 

 serted upon the petals (hence styled epipeialous) and opposite 

 to each — not between them; in a case like this it is considered 

 that an outer circle of stamens has been suppressed, and hence 

 the members of this second and inner circle come between 

 where the others would have been. 



Having stripped off the calyx, the corolla, and the stamens 

 we come to one solitary organ in the middle — the seed- bearing 

 organ or pistil, with the stigma at the summit. 



Here I come to, perhaps, the most interesting portion of 

 my paper, a peculiar feature in the physiology of the Primrose. 

 Those of us who have been in the habit of not merely 

 gathering flowers but also of examining them, must have 



