CHAPTER VI.
SOME COMMON FLOWERS.
15. A TYPICAL FLOWER.
I. The wallflower.—After noticing the general habit of growth of a wallflower plant ([Fig. 57]), and especially the shape and venation of the leaves, make out the following parts in one of its flowers. On the top of the flower-stalk (called the receptacle) are:
Fig. 57.—Wallflower. (× ⅙.)
(a) Four small, narrow, purplish leaves, called sepals. The four sepals together constitute the calyx. Take off the sepals one by one. Notice that two opposite sepals are bulged out at their bases, forming pouches containing nectar. Try to get out a small drop of nectar on the point of a pencil and taste it.
(b) Four showy leaves arranged in the form of a Maltese cross, called petals. They are yellow, or red, or purplish in colour, are delicately scented, and have beautiful velvety surfaces. The four petals together constitute the corolla. Take off the petals one by one.
(c) Six stamens, each consisting of a greenish stalk or filament surmounted by a yellow, boat-shaped body, called the anther. The anther is a four-chambered box containing an enormous number of tiny yellow grains called pollen grains. Two of the stamens are shorter, and are fixed at a lower level on the receptacle than the remaining four. Take off the stamens one by one.
(d) A central pistil, shaped somewhat like a slender bottle. At the top, where the cork would come in a real bottle, is the notched stigma, slightly sticky. The neck is called the style, and the part corresponding to the body of the bottle is the ovary. Tear open the ovary with a needle to see the ovules, which in an undisturbed flower would have become seeds.