38 .WAYSIDE WEEDS. 



now put into your hand 'will sKow ttat witli thetk 

 thip cannot be done. If you take calyx, you take 

 likewise stamens and petals, for to it they are 

 attacted, and not to the receptacle. All the ex- 

 amples you have will '.not show this equally well, 

 but in some, such as the strawberry (Fig. 28) and 

 others, it is very well marked. Perhaps this little 

 difference in the attachment of the parts may appear 

 to a beginner a very little difference to ,say so much 

 about ; land yet, slight as seems the line of demar- 

 cation, it severs groups of plants by ^ strictiy 

 natural .distinction, which differ widely, not only ia 

 their outward appearance, but in their mediciual 

 and economical properties. We dwell upon it, 

 therefore, because it teaches one of the most useful 

 and well-marked lessons in botanical distinction 

 which we can lay before a novice, land because it is 

 one which he can so easily verify for himself by 

 means of the commonest wayside weeds or flowers. 

 Here, then, we have the grand distinction between 

 Handful I. and Handful II., both made up of manyr 

 petaled plants; but in the former the petals and 

 stamens are attached to the receptacle underneath 

 the pistil, in the latter to the calyx;. 



"We now turn our attention literally to the busi- 

 ness, or at least to the flowers in hand. We have 

 found'that those) y^e are n,ow examining are many- 

 petaled, and that petals and stamens by their attachr 

 ment to the calyx afford us a tSharacte:^ which is a 



