THREE MEMBERS OF THE ACORN FAMILY
The Chief Gardener pointed to the little black tip on the top of the nut.
"That was once the stigma," he said. "You see, it is quite like one, even now. Of course, it was soft then, and the pistil below was soft, too. Then as it grew it became harder and harder until the shell formed, and it was really a nut. The calyx hardened, and made the hull. The pistil and the calyx of a flower are the parts that last longest, but the stamens and the corolla are just as useful in their way. They form a separate flower on the nut-trees. We will have to come to the woods next spring when they are in bloom."
"Papa, don't hazelnuts and chestnuts belong to the same family?" asked little Prue, who had some of each in her chubby hands.
"Why, yes, but why did you think so, Prue?"
"Well, you see, they both have those white spots on them, and I thought mebbe it was a kind of family mark."
"Wise little head, Prue. And now what else is there that has the family mark—we might call it the family seal?"
The children were silent a moment, thinking. They were sitting under a big oak tree, and all at once Davy's eye caught something in the leaves, just by his hand.
"This!" he shouted, and held up an acorn.