FLOWERS OF THE FIELD 



Division I. ANGIOSPERMS 



Class I. DICOTYLEDONS 



This is the more extensive of the two classes into which ordinary 

 flowering-plants, or angiosperms, are divided, and derives its name 

 from the two cotyledons or leaves of the embryo which are almost 

 invariably present in the seed of this class. These cotyledons 

 enclose the plumule or bud of the future shoot, which, when the 

 seed begins to sprout or germinate, lengthens into the leafy stem. 

 At the same time the embryo in this class puts forth in a down- 

 ward direction a main root, called in its early stages a radicle. 

 In the perennial woody members of the class the stem increases 

 in diameter by annual concentric layers of wood formed near 

 the outer surface of the stem, but beneath the bark, this type of 

 stem being called exogenous (growing externally). The leaves 

 have irregularly netted veins of various degrees of fineness. The 

 flowers have their sepals and petals, and (less regularly) their 

 stamens and carpels, in whorls of 5 each or sometimes of 2 or 4. 



Sub-Class I. POLYPETAL^ 



Flowers generally furnished with both calyx and corolla ; petals 

 generally distinct. 



Series I. THALAMIFLOR^.— Ord. I.— XXI 



Petals and stamens springing from the floral receptacle or thala- 

 mus, below the ovary (hypogynous) ; ovary superior. 



Natural Order I. Ranunculaceje. — The 

 Buttercup Family 



Herbs with a watery, acrid, and often poisonous juice and 

 scattered leaves (except Clematis, which is a shrub with opposite 

 leaves) The leaves are generally much divided, and the flowers 



