cried delightedly. "That is why the stamens
with the pollen in them are right over the ovaries."

"Yes, dear, you have guessed it. The ripe pollen, falling into the
ripe ovary, would fertilize the seeds. And with some plants, the
earlier and simpler kinds, this is just what happens. But here you can
see that the ovary is not ripe. It is hard and green. When it is ripe
its color is yellow. But the pollen is ripe now, you can see it all
over the anthers, as the knobs or sacks are called. If the pollen
should fall upon the ovary now it would roll off without entering, and
would be wasted. Now what do you suppose happens?"

"The--the--"

Elsie hesitated, looking with very bright eyes at her mother, almost
sure enough to go on, but not quite. It seemed so peculiar, the
thought that had come to her, and she did not see just how it could
be.

"You were going to say the bee, weren't you?" her mother smiled.

"Oh yes--and would that have been right?" Elsie cried in delight.

"Yes, that would have been exactly right. If we had been near enough
to examine the bee's motions closely we should have seen that he
alighted on the ovary, and then began to turn here and there in order
to get at the honey at the base of each petal. As he did so he brushed
off some of the pollen, for he was right in amongst the stamens, and
this powdery pollen stuck to his fuzzy body and he carried it away
with him."

"But if he carried it away how could it get into the flower's ovary?"
Elsie asked, puzzled.

"It did not get into this flower's ovary," her mother answered.
"Nature did not intend that it should, and that is why the bee is
introduced. For the other buttercup that he flew to, or some other
one that he would visit afterward, would have its ovary ripe, and when
he alighted on it in search of honey some of the pollen would be
brushed off his body right into this ovary that was all ready to
receive it."

"Oh! But what would happen then? The little baby buttercups would
begin to grow right away, mamma?"

"Yes, the ovary would close up and the seeds would begin to grow, very
slowly. They would keep on growing until they were ripe and then they
would burst their covering and fall out on the ground. Those of them
that were fortunate enough to become embedded in the soil, so that
they would not freeze in the winter, would come out in the spring as
little plants, which would soon bring forth buttercups. That is the
way with the wild flowers