Cut me up a buttercup
Duration: 2 mins 21 secs
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| Description: | Page one of de Candolle's 1813 textbook concerned the buttercup, which is why we all learnt the buttercup in biology at school, even though there is nothing standard about a buttercup. John Hinton runs through the key features of the flower. |
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| Created: | 2018-11-08 13:55 | ||||||
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| Collection: | The Ensonglopedia of Plants | ||||||
| Publisher: | University of Cambridge | ||||||
| Copyright: | John Hinton | ||||||
| Language: | eng (English) | ||||||
| Distribution: |
World
(downloadable)
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| Keywords: | buttercup; Ranunculaceae; de Candolle; Hinton; | ||||||
| Credits: |
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| Categories: |
iTunes - Science - Biology iTunes - Teaching & Learning - Learning Resources |
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| Explicit content: | No | ||||||
Transcript
Transcript:
We’re gonna cut a buttercup up.
Why don’t you cut me up
A buttercup, baby,
And then show me round
All the parts that you’ve found?
Okay, now, first of all,
It has five petals
Which are kinda round
And can bend up or down.
They have a yellow hue
Which has nothing to do
With butter-admiration:
It’s just the carotenoid pigmentation,
But they give off UV
Which is a signal to the bee
To come on down
Cos there’s some grub to be found.
Yeah, we’re gonna cut a buttercup up.
Ooh and then next to those
Is where the stamens grow,
And each of these contains
Lots of ripe pollen grains,
Which get stuck to bees,
And beyond all these
Is where the carpel sits,
And that’s the flower’s female bits.
Next down’s the nectary -
The bee’s refectory,
Which is accessible
Just above the receptacle.
Now listen up people:
Take a look at the sepal
Which contained the buttercup
Before it opened up.
Yeah, we’re gonna cut a buttercup up.
And under all of them,
We find a hollow stem
Containing alkaloids
Which it’s best to avoid,
And which leads, of course,
To some leaves off stalks,
Which are the specialists
In photosynthesis.
Now let’s go further down,
All the way underground,
Where you’ll notice the roots,
Which are totes in cahoots
With the rest of the flower,
Cos they allow it to devour
All of the nutrients
Which the soil presents.
Come on and cut a buttercup up.
Now that you’ve cut me up
A buttercup, baby,
I wonder if you’ll ever
Put it back together?
I think not.
That flower’s shot.
Why don’t you cut me up
A buttercup, baby,
And then show me round
All the parts that you’ve found?
Okay, now, first of all,
It has five petals
Which are kinda round
And can bend up or down.
They have a yellow hue
Which has nothing to do
With butter-admiration:
It’s just the carotenoid pigmentation,
But they give off UV
Which is a signal to the bee
To come on down
Cos there’s some grub to be found.
Yeah, we’re gonna cut a buttercup up.
Ooh and then next to those
Is where the stamens grow,
And each of these contains
Lots of ripe pollen grains,
Which get stuck to bees,
And beyond all these
Is where the carpel sits,
And that’s the flower’s female bits.
Next down’s the nectary -
The bee’s refectory,
Which is accessible
Just above the receptacle.
Now listen up people:
Take a look at the sepal
Which contained the buttercup
Before it opened up.
Yeah, we’re gonna cut a buttercup up.
And under all of them,
We find a hollow stem
Containing alkaloids
Which it’s best to avoid,
And which leads, of course,
To some leaves off stalks,
Which are the specialists
In photosynthesis.
Now let’s go further down,
All the way underground,
Where you’ll notice the roots,
Which are totes in cahoots
With the rest of the flower,
Cos they allow it to devour
All of the nutrients
Which the soil presents.
Come on and cut a buttercup up.
Now that you’ve cut me up
A buttercup, baby,
I wonder if you’ll ever
Put it back together?
I think not.
That flower’s shot.