necessarily be the ones used here for illustration.


FUNCTION OR USE OF FLOWERS TO PLANTS

Of what use is the flower to the plant?

You have doubtless noticed that most flowers are followed by fruit or
seed vessels. In fact, the fruit and seeds are really produced from
the flower, and the work of most flowers is to produce seeds in order
to provide for new plants.

[Illustration: FIG. 68.
A horse-chestnut stem showing leaves, buds, and scars where last
year's leaves dropped off.]

[Illustration: FIG. 69.--AN UNDERGROUND STEM
Buds show distinctly at points indicated by _b_.]

To understand how this comes about it will be necessary to study the
parts of the flower and find out their individual uses or functions.


PARTS OF A FLOWER

If we take for our study any of the following flowers: cherry, apple,
buttercup, wild mustard, and start from the outside, we will find an
outer and under part which in most flowers is green. This is called
the calyx (Figs. 70-74). In the buttercup and mustard the calyx is
divided into separate parts called sepals. In the cherry, peach and