146 
POPULAR SCIENCE REVIEW. 
The second flower selected for dissection is the Figwort-, or 
Lesser Celandine as it is sometimes called, the Ranunculus 
Ficaria of botanists, and the earliest buttercup ” which makes 
its appearance. If seen with its yellow petals expanded, like a 
golden star (fig. 15), it will at once be recognised as a regular 
polypetalous flower, or, more correctly, it has a regular pol}^- 
petalous corolla, for all its petals are distinct the one from 
the other. Turning the blossom over, and examining its 
under surface, we shall perhaps feel a little disappointed that 
a corolla with eight or more petals should have a calyx of 
only three sepals (fig. 16), which are about half the length of 
the petals, and green. The sepals as well as the petals are free 
of each other, and therefore polysepalous. One by one we 
pluck off the yellow petals, and place them side by side upon a 
sheet of writing-paper, and having done so, commence examin- 
ing them carefully with a pocket lens. At the base of each 
petal, on its inner surface, a small scale is attached (fig. 17) ; 
this is an important discovery, and must be carefully noted ; 
very few flowers possess such a scale. 
Eeturning to the remains of the flower from which the petals 
were plucked, a large number of stamens next attract attention. 
We remove them one by one, and finding more than twenty, are 
content to note that the stamens are indefinite. What a very 
singular plant this figwort must appear to the young botanist 
with its calyx of three sepals, its corolla of eight petals, and 
more than twenty or thirty stamens ! It is customary for all 
these parts to .agree in number, or if one has more than ano- 
ther, it is often twice or thrice, or some multiple of the typical 
number. Whenever such anomalies are found, therefore, they 
should be carefully observed. Of the stamens themselves little 
has to be ascertained. Their form is nearly clavate, the fila- 
ments about as long as the anthers, passing up between them 
for about one-third of their length (fig. 18). The pollen grains 
minute and spherical (fig. 20). 
It is interesting to examine one of these stamens under the 
microscope, with a magnifying power of about 300 diameters, 
and to trace amongst the hexagonal cells the single central 
bundle of spiral fibre, running nearly to the apex of the 
anther. 
The petals and stamens being removed, all that remains 
within the calyx is a nearly globose cluster of small pear-shaped 
green bodies, occupying the place of the pistil (fig. 19). These 
are in reality an aggregation of pistils ; separate them, or cut 
the mass through in any direction, and they are proved to be a 
cluster of one-celled ovaries, each containing a single ovule, and 
surmounted by a distinct spot, which is the sessile stigma. 
There is no style, but the stigma occupies the apex of the ovary. 
