Fig. 744.—Water lily.
Fig. 745.—Transformation of petals into stamens in white water lily.
Flowering plants have certain distinct features which cannot be mistaken, for they grow well above ground, and can easily be examined. There are a hundred-thousand different species of flowering plants, and a visitor to Kew can study them there. Any child can tell a flower when he sees it, but a flowering plant is no more restricted in Botany to actual bright blossoming plants, than the term rock in Geology means a mass of stone only. Flowering plants may be either very gorgeous or very simple; and so long as they contain a reproductive apparatus they are flowering plants. The rose is a flowering plant, but the oak is equally one. The beech tree and the primrose are classed under the same heading.
Fig. 746.—Pistils of violet.
Fig. 747.—Tetradynamous stamens.
Flowering plants must possess stamens and pistils, which bring forth seeds which contain an embryo, and the germination of seeds can be easily perceived by any one who will take the trouble to soak them (say “scarlet runners”) in warm water, and keep them warm in moist flannel. The process may then be examined at leisure.