PART III 



Studies of Floweks 



XXIII. WHAT IS A FLOWER? 



139. A flower of the hepatica, or liverwort, 

 which springs from the mold with the first 

 warmth of spring, is drawn in 

 Fig. 131. The most hasty ob- 

 servation shows that it has sev- 

 eral parts. Let us pull them 

 away. We first find three green 

 leaf-like members. Above these 

 are several (seven in this case) pink 

 or blue members. On the inside 

 are about twenty hair-like bodies 

 with pinkish enlargements on their 

 ends, and each of these knobs 

 seems to have two parts. Still 

 inside, is a head of many green- 

 ish and pointed bodies. We know 

 Fig. 131. that the whole thing is a flower. 



Flower of hepatica. but we are Uncertain as to what 



(131) 



