Wild Flowers as They Grow 



their bodies, and thus do the plants pass on pollen 

 from flower to flower. 



But if the stamens are the most conspicuous, 

 the five green sepals which form the protecting cup 

 are the most curious part of the flower, for they 

 are edged with a row of very noticeable black dots. 

 These, too, are glands, and are no doubt intended 

 as a Une of defence against httle creeping insects 

 which might steal the pollen without making any 

 compensating return to the plant. A flower -bud 

 with its closely enfolding green sepals edged with 

 black dots, and surmounted by the pale yeUow cone 

 of wrapped-up petals, is distinctly remarkable. 



The petals are twice as long as the sepals ; they 

 are narrow, and stand like a golden five-rayed star 

 behind the stamen clusters. Above the petals, in 

 the centre of the flower, is the three-ceUed seed-case, 

 each ceU surmounted by a long column. It has 

 already been pointed out that the stamens are of 

 unequal length ; now the shortest are on the outside, 



the longest on the inside, and these longest ones are 



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