Plants and their children

by Frances Theodora Parsons

Fig. 162

I have asked for pictures of three different kinds of lilies, so that the city and country children alike may recognize an old friend; for every spring the white Easter lily (Fig. [162]) stands outside the flower shops, and decorates the churches, and travels through the streets in the peddler’s cart; while in summer time the country is bright with the wood and meadow lilies (Figs. [163], [164]).

Fig. 163

And I hope that even now one of the living blossoms is before you, for I want you to see for yourselves what plan these lilies use in flower building.

The building plan of the cherry, you remember, began with a green cup or calyx.

Do you find in the lily any green cup?

No, there is nothing of the sort in the lilies. You see only a circle of flower leaves. In the last chapter you learned to call such a circle the corolla. But the wise men say that without a calyx there cannot be a real corolla. So in the lily we will speak of the “flower leaves” instead of the corolla.