HOW TO USE THE POPULAR FLORA. 103 



that we happen to have. If a field plant flowering in May, and with a bulbous 

 base of the stem just underground, it is the Bulbous Crowfoot or Buttercup, 

 or in Latin, i?. hulbosus. If the taller species, without a bulb, and flowering in 

 summer (which is the most common kind throughout the country), it is Tall 

 Crowfoot or Buttercup, or R. acris. Having in this way made out one 

 Crowfoot, you will be sure to know any other one as soon as you see it, and will 

 only have to find out the species, comparing your specimen with the descriptions, 

 on p. 114. 



324. Suppose, for the next example, you have specimens, with flowers and young 

 flpuit, of a common plant in wet grounds in spring, here called Cowslip, though this 

 is not its correct English name. With specimens in hand, turn to p. 105. 



To which class does it belong ? Its netted-veined leaves (and the structure of 

 the stem, as seen in a slice under a good magnifying-glass) plainly refer it to Class I. 

 You next ask, — 



To which subclass ? The pistils and pods plainly refer it to Subclass I. 



To which division ? At first view you may think it has a corolla ; but there is 

 no calyx outside of these yellow leaves of the flower, even in the bud. So j'ou will 

 conclude that these leaves are the calyx, notwithstanding their rich color and petal- 

 like appearance ; and you will turn to the Apetalous division, on p. 110. 



Continue the analysis under that division. The flowers are separate, and "not 

 in catkins " ; so it falls under A. The seeds are numerous in each ovary or pod ; 

 so it falls under No. 1. The "calyx is free from the ovary," according to the 

 second of the first pair of lines. So you have only to choose between the three 

 lines of the triplet under this, beginning with " Pod." As the pistils and pods are 

 one-celled and simple, we are brought to the name fCROWFOOT Family, p. 112. 

 The mark f denotes that 30U have in this case an apetalous plant belonging to 

 k family in which the flowers generally have petals. You turn to this family, p. 

 112, and proceed as before. You are led along the same track, until 30U reach the 

 line " Pistils many or several, becoming akenes in fruit." Your flowers have a 

 number of pistils, but these contain numerous seeds, and make pods in fruit, as in 

 Fig. 240. So you pass on to the other line of the couplet, which reads, " Pistils 

 more than one-seeded, becoming pods " ; which agrees with the plant in hand. The 

 first line in the next rank reads : " Sepals petal-like, not falling when the flower 

 first opens " (so it is in your plant) ; and, of the four lines of the next rank, jou can 

 take only the first : " (Sepals) golden-yellow : petals none : leaves rounded, not 



