This powder is called pŏl´-len.
She must be very proud when she gets all dressed up in the lovely Spring days in her best finery—a shiny corolla collar, made of yellow petals, held in a calyx cup, made of green sepals, and a stamen fringe necklace, powdered with pollen!
Oh, yes, she wears a lovely dress of green lacey leaves. The leaf is made strong, just as children are, by a bone, a leaf-bone or a mid-rib.
All other flowers dress in a similar way, but not every flower has as many beautiful things to wear as has little Buttercup.
When you see flowers after this, look for the lovely corolla, calyx, stamens, and other parts of the flower, which you have learned to know through Little Buttercup.
There is another part to a buttercup, called the pis-til, but I shall tell you about that part of flowers in the next lesson, in just the way our teacher told us.
“Oh,” cried Mary Frances, as Billy finished, “What a delightful lesson! Never again will buttercups seem the same. Although I always loved them, they will be so much more interesting after this.”