THE MEADOW BUTTERCUP 



RANUNCULUS ACRIS 



THE Buttercup is usually taken as a type of 

 what a flower should be. Like the paragons 

 of virtue we sometimes meet, it is complete at 

 every point, straightforward and distinct in every 





a, sepals, b, petals with nectaries. (, stamen, d, ovaries, e, single fruit. 



detail, while originality and eccentricity are unknown 



to it. This model of floral symmetry and rectitude 



has five simple green sepals, all ahke, arranged in a 



ring at the stalk end ; five yellow petals, all alike, 



arranged in a similar ring (but alternating with 



the sepals) ; a large number of stamens of typical 



SI 



