A Little Garden Calendar for Boys and Girls

by Albert Bigelow Paine

The Chief Gardener laughed in spite of himself, and Davy looked rather shocked.

"She always calls the anthers 'panthers,'" he said, sorrowfully, "and she never will say 'corolla' right."

"And those are not the parts of a plant either," added the Chief Gardener, "but the parts of a flower. A plant is divided into three principal parts. Now, Davy, it's your turn. See if you can tell me what they are."

"Well," began Davy, "the root is one."

"The root is one, Davy; quite right. Now for the others."

"The leaves are another."

"The leaves, yes, the leaves are another."

"And the flower makes three, doesn't it? But then there's the stalk, too. That makes four. There must be four parts."

"There are a great many parts," nodded the Chief Gardener, "but there are only three principal parts—the root, the stem, and the leaf. To a botanist—one who studies plants and how they grow—the flower is only a branch of the stem, and its parts are leaves."