WILD FLOWERS YELLOW AND ORANGE 
surrounded with many stamens. But let us see what 
it really-is. It is a large flower, all right, having six 
large, concave sepals — not petals — which form an 
orange-shaped cup, measuring from one and one-half to 
three and one-half inches in diameter.. Three of these 
petal-like sepals are slightly larger than the others, 
and form the inner row of an alternate arrangement 
with the three smaller ones which support them. 
They are bright yellow in colour, shading to a light 
green at their base, ‘and occasionally they are stained 
with purple. Immediately inside this yellow-lined 
bowl are the real petals, forming a ring around the 
thick, compound pistil. They are stamen-like, fleshy, 
oblong, and numerous, and are comparatively short, 
less than half an inch in length. The many yellow 
stamens are arranged in five, six, or seven rows directly 
around the pistil, from which they radiate, and recurv- 
ing prettily, fill the cup. The flat top of the great 
stigma or pistil, which is compounded or com- 
posed of many carpels or simple pistils, is orange-red - 
or yellow, and is strikingly decorated with a starlike 
design, having from twelve to twenty-four rays. The 
flowers are not possessed of a pleasing odour, and 
this accounts for much of its unattractiveness. In 
England they are called Brandy Bottles, a name 
which knowing ones claim is suggested by its odour, 
and which others attribute to the shape of its seed 
cases. ‘They are found either floating or erected above 
the water, in common with its foliage. The large, 
smooth, shining leaves are tough and leathery, and 
113 
