The five larger ones, marked _co_, belong to the corolla. These, you notice, are not all alike. The upper one is much the largest. [Illustration: FIG. 256] The two side ones are alike. In the real flower the two lower ones are joined so as to form a little pocket. And what else do you find? Now, if you do not pull apart the pea blossom, you find nothing else. But you know that the seed-holding fruit is the object of the flower’s life, and that so this flower is pretty sure to have somewhere either a pistil with its seedbox, or stamens with their dust boxes, or both; for without the seeds of the seedbox, and the pollen of the dust boxes, no fruit can result. So, knowing that the pea blossom cannot give birth to a pea pod without stamens and pistil, let us have a search for these. [Illustration: FIG. 257] As I told you, the two lower leaves of the corolla are joined so as to form a sort of pocket (Fig. 257). Now, surely, a pocket is meant to hold something. So take a pin and slit open this pocket. As the two sides spring apart, out flies some golden pollen, and we see that the little pocket is far from empty. It holds ten stamens and one pistil. If you look at these carefully (Fig. 256), you see that one stamen stands alone, while the other nine have grown together, forming a tube which is slit down one side. This tube clings to the lower part of the pistil. Now, if you pull this tube away, what do you see? You see a little, green, oblong object, do you not (Fig. 258)? And what is it? Do you not recognize it? [Illustration: FIG. 258] Why, it is a baby pea pod. Within it lie the tiny green seeds (Fig. 259) which are only waiting for the fresh touch of life from a pollen grain to grow bigger and bigger till they become the full-grown seeds of the pea plant,—the peas that we find so good to eat when they are cooked for dinner. So, after all, the building plan of the pea blossom is nothing but the old-fashioned one which reads 1. Calyx. 2. Corolla. 3. Stamens. 4. Pistil. [Illustration: FIG. 259] Had I not told you to do so, I wonder if you would have been bright enough to pull apart the little pocket and discover the stamens and pistil. What do you think about this? THE CLOVER’S TRICK [Illustration: Clover] Here you see the bees buzzing about the pretty pink clover heads,—the sweet-smelling clover that grows so thickly in the fields of early summer. Can you tell me what plan the clover uses in flower building? You will not find this easy to do. Indeed, it is hardly possible, for the clover plays you a trick which you will not be able to discover without help. You believe, do you not, that you are looking at a single flower when you look at a clover head? Well, you are doing nothing of the sort. You are looking at a great many little clover flowers which are so closely packed that they make the pink, sweet-scented ball which we have been taught to call the clover blossom.