202 
THE LIFE OF FLOWERING PLANTS 
for example, the expanded top of the stalk on which the 
floral organs are placed. This is sometimes oval as in 
buttercups, or large and fleshy as in strawberries, or hollow 
as in the rose, where the pistils arise from its inner surface. 
The crown is a projection growing from the surface of a petal 
as in narcissus. The spur already mentioned is another 
modification of a petal or a sepal. Violets, snapdragons, 
toad flax, and larkspur have spurs. Nectar glands, usually 
found near the base of a flower, are commonly found in those 
flowers which are adapted to attract insects. 
187. What Is a Flower ? — It has bekn decided that a flower 
is simply a modified branch, the parts of the flower being 
highly specialized or modified leaves. Some flowers show 
this plainly at all times, and others show it under certain 
conditions. 
188. Uses of the Parts of a Flower. — The sepals are 
adaptations for the protection of the inner organs while they 
are developing, and the petals are adaptations for the pur¬ 
pose of attracting insects to distribute pollen. Sometimes 
one set of these organs is lacking and sometimes the other, 
giving us asepalous or apetalous flowers as the case may be. 
Very often, sepals are colored and serve the purpose of 
petals, another adaptation. The receptacle serves as the 
place of attachment for the other parts of the flower. 
Stamens . — These produce the pollen without which 
seed cannot be formed. Concerning the ways in which they 
open, the kind of pollen they bear, their adaptations for 
getting it to the pistil of another flower and (usually) for 
keeping it from its own, enough has been discovered to fur¬ 
nish text for a whole book, although many flowers have 
not yet been studied at all. Many of these facts can be 
observed by any boy or girl with keen eyes. To be on the 
lookout for new facts will give zest to the study of botany. 
Pistil. — In the ovary of the pistil are found the ovules 
which will become seeds under favorable conditions (see 
