A flowering branch of the Gillyflower

“IT would be knowing a person very little only to be aware of his wearing a garment of a certain material, a coat of such and such a cloth. One does not know a flower any better when one knows that it is clothed with a calyx and a corolla. What is under this covering? A flowering branch of the Gillyflower “Let us examine together this gillyflower. It has a calyx of four sepals and a corolla of four yellow petals. I take away these eight pieces. What is left now is the essential part; that is to say, the thing without which the flower could not fill its rôle and would be perfectly useless. Let us go carefully over this remaining part. You will find it well worth the trouble.