Ex

and the gorse flower-Fig. 31-for a fourth. amine the outside of each of these flowers. You will observe that each has a part or parts, well marked in all the figures, which surround the

rest of the flower. In

the primrose it is green,

and in one piece; in

28. Blossom of common Wallflower,

cross-like, or cruciform in shape-1, peduncle or flower-stem-2, calyx or flower-cup,

in four distinct parts or sepals-3, 3, petals, four in number, composing the corolla-4, stamens-5, pistil.

the loosestrife it is also green, and in one piece, but deeply divided into five divisions. In the gorse there are two all but complete divisions, more yellow than green; and in the wallflower the divisions are four,

and deeply coloured.

In all these instances,

the part we have described is the flower-cup, the calyx of botanists, the outer enveloping portion of the flower. Multiply your observations on flowers generally, and you will find that, almost without exception, they have this outer At the same part or calyx in some form or other.

time, you must not expect to find it always as distinctly marked as it is in the instances pointed out above. In the majority of flowers it is easily enough distinguished by its position, and by its green leaf-like colour; but in some, especially among the parallel-veined leaf plants, such as the iris, the snow-drop, the crocus-Fig. 58-the calyx is quite flower-like. In such plants it is often included in the term perianth. By botanists the

flower-cup is considered to be made up of a certain number of separate divisions or parts, which are called sepals, these sepals being either distinctly separate, as in the wallflower, or united into one, as in the primrose; in the

latter case the calyx is spoken of as monosepalous, or one-sepaled. The expression, however, is not perfectly correct; for the one-sepaled calyx does not consist of one part, but of several joined together. The existence of these parts is generally indicated by some approach to division. In the primrose-Fig. 29the five parts are indicated by the five-toothed flower-cup; 2, the tube of the corolla-3, the but in the loosestrife-Fig. 30-they are much more vessel-7, the peduncle or flowerstrongly marked in five deep

29. Vertical section of blossom

of common Primrose-1, the limb

of corolla, which is in one piece

sepal-4, the pistil-5, two of the

calyx or flower-cup, in one part or

five stamens-6, the ovary or seed

stalk.

divisions, constituting a five-partite calyx. In the wallflower Fig. 28-the sepals are completely separate.

In most plants, perhaps, the flower-cup is regular in form, but not in all. In the labiate plants, for example, the class to which the white and red dead nettles belong, the calyx is irregular-Fig. 32.

Some flowers you will examine in full bloom, and yet you will be unable to detect any calyx at all, for the good reason that when the blossom is fully expanded it is not there, it has been cast off. The familiar garden eschscholtzia, which shaped calyx or flower- may be seen any summer morning cup of a Labiate plant. throwing off its extinguisher-like caps, or calyces, from its expanding gay yellow blossoms, is a good example. Another we have in our own wild poppies, which separate their flowercups, or, rather, in their case, flower-caps-Fig. 33 -as the blossom expands.

32. 1, Irregular

In most plants, perhaps, the calyx withers with the flower; but in some it adheres more or less completely to the seed-vessel, and not only does not wither and fall off, but continues to grow with the increase and growth of the seed-vessel, and eventually forms part of the fruit, as it does in the apple or pear, or in the hep of the rose, as shown in Fig. 34, where 2 is simply the calyx adhering to the seed receptacle contained within. One singular form is the bladder calyx, which looks as if blown up by air; the most familiar example of this form among our native wild flowers is seen in the bladder campionSilene inflata.

Many pages might we fill with descriptions of the different forms of calyx; but again we say, go to the Book of Nature, pick blossom after blossom, and compare each with the other. This little work is not meant to spell out any part of that great Book of God for its readers; it simply aims at showing them how they may spell it out for themselves-how they may truly see the things they look at:—many there are who look at things, but comparatively few are there who see them-few who feel them-few are there to whom

"There is a tongue in every leaf,

A voice in every rill."

We would make the few the many.

THE FLOWER, OR COROLLA.

Again we return to our practical lessons, and have recourse to the living flower, or to its picture The corolla, that which in

if the original fails us.

the eyes of people generally constitutes the flower, is the floral envelope lying next within the flowercup or calyx; the divisions of this floral envelope being known to botanists by the name of petals, a term corresponding to the sepal division of the calyx. The bright yellow petals of the buttercup, the pink petals of the wild rose-the blue, bell-like, conjunction of petals which forms the harebell blossom, are all the corollas of their respective plants. In plants, such as the buttercup, the rose, &c. &c., in which the corolla is made up of a number of separate petals, the term polypetalous, or many-petaled, is applied to it. In those, like the harebell, in which the corolla is in one piece, it is called monopetalous, or one-petaled, a term, however, which is scarcely correct, seeing that such corollas are not truly one-petaled, but are actually formed by the conjunction of a number of petals, of which, moreover, the points of union are often well marked.

As in most instances the calyx of the flower is green in colour, leaf-like, and comparatively inconspicuous, so, generally, we find the corolla bright in hue, showy, and often fragrant. Not always, however, is it so distinguished or distinguishable; for in some plants, as the ivy, or its relative the moschatell, in the lady's mantle, and various others, the corolla is greenish and insignificant. In other instances, as in the hellebores, whilst the corolla is small and scarce noticeable, the calyx is large and conspicuous. In others of the ranunculus family-to which the hellebores belong-the calyx is still more conspicuous from its gay colour, such as we find in the