The Herb Robert 



Soldier's Buttons — conform to the geranium type, 

 for the plant belongs to the Geraniacece family — 

 that is to say, there is a calyx of five separate sepals, 

 a corolla of five separate petals much longer than 

 the sepals, two rings of five stamens each, the outer 

 ring carrying glands of honey near their base on 

 their outer side, and an ovary made up of five parts 

 ranged round a central column and continued at the 

 tip into five lobes, which at first are all erect and 

 pressed together, but later spread out into five rays. 

 Now the characteristic feature about the calyx is 

 that the sepals stand in so closely together that they 

 form an apparent tube ; and about the corolla, that 

 each petal has a ridge down its centre which, pro- 

 jecting into the tube, forms five bays round it. Thus 

 the honey is protected by the mouth of the tube 

 being partly closed ; moreover, the whole flower turns 

 over and hangs down to make assurance doubly sure 

 when rain begins to fall. In the little wood geranium, 

 its close relative, the honey is guarded by fringes of 



hairs at the base of the petals, hairs which are 



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