'98 FIRST STUDIES IN PLANT LIFE 



5. When the green sheath is burst open by the 

 swelhng buds, out comes a flower on a long stalklet, and 

 then another and another, until the cluster of flowers 

 looks like a scarlet umbrella bending over the flower- 

 buds that are still unopened.* By this beautiful 

 plan the young tender flower-buds are protected from 

 the night cold by the older flowers. Look at the colour 

 of a flower-bud that is just breaking through the 

 green, and compare it with the colour of the fully- 

 opened flowers. If you hold up to the sunlight a bud 

 half-open, you will see that there is a gleam of golden 

 dust among the scarlet. Note also that each stalklet 

 looks like two stems pinned together. We shall see 

 presently the meaning of this. 



6. The calyx. The stalklet ends in a little green 

 cup f calyx J, which holds together the five scarlet 

 petals. This cup also is cut into five parts fsepalsj, 

 and you will notice that the sepals are not all of the 

 same size. If you look at one of the flower-buds that 

 has not yet begun to open, you will see that it is 

 completely covered by the calyx. The calyx, 

 therefore, is meant to protect the flower-bud. It is 

 meant to do for a single flower what the green sheath 

 did for the whole cluster of flowers. How snug the 

 flower was, hid in its little cloak, and that little 

 cloak hid in another great one 1, The calyx, then, is 

 meant to shield the flower when it is a bud, and to 

 support it when it has opened out into a flower. 



7. The corolla. And now we come to the five 

 beautiful leaves called petals, that make up the 

 flower's little crown fcorollaj. You notice that two 

 of these petals are smaller than the rest, and that 



* A cluster of this kind is called an umbel (L. umbra, shade.) 



