FLOWERS, THEIR ESSENTIAL ORGANS AND USES. 



It is necessary to know that "chlorophyll " is the real Avorking power in all green 

 leaves, and ayc must take care that our plants arc grown in deep, rich, well-worked 

 or otherwise suitable soil ; the roots must breathe as well as drink, and the foliage must 

 be clean. If the leaves of plants are not fresh and green, but yellowish or pale and 

 flaccid, then there is something wrong — want of drainage at the root it may be, or lack 

 of iron sulphates, or there may be too much lime in the soil or in the water, in which 

 case all ericaceous (heath) plants, such as rhododendra, fail to thrive. 



stigma. 



fdameat 



Flowers. 



The flower of every plant consists as a rule of four kinds of organs, each intended 

 to serve some useful or essential 

 purpose. 



First of all comes the calyx leaves, anthe 

 which are mostly green and stout in 

 texture, their duty being to enfold and 

 protect the inner and more delicate 

 organs of the flower in the earlier stages 

 of growth. 



Secondly, come the petal leaves, 

 which are larger than the calyx, gene- 

 rally of a different shape and more 

 brightly coloured. These leaves act as 

 advertisements, and with honey, attract the visits of insects to the flower, so as very 

 often to insure cross fertilisation. 



The third group, or Avhorl in the flower, is composed of stamens, little yellow knobs, 

 called anthers, ou slender stalks called filaments. The anthers are two-celled and 

 contain the powdery fertilising dust called pollen. 



The fourth and last organ in the flower is the seed-vessel or ovary, called in its 

 young state the pistil. The pistil consists of a rounded receptacle containing the young 

 ovules ; this is surmounted by a slender column or filament called the style, and at the 

 upper end of the style is the stigma (see Fig. 13, also page 9). 



In most flowers the male organs or stamens, and the female organs or pistils, are 

 borne together in the same flower ; and flowers of this kind are called hermaphrodital 

 flowers. 



Stamen 



Fig. 13. Essential Parts of a Flowes. 



