Uncle George and his three young pupils had been to the woods. After tea
he opened the metal box which he carried, slung by a strap over his
shoulder, whenever he went out rambling.
This box had in it a pond-net and a couple of wide bottles. To-night it
was half filled with plants.
Before laying them on the table, Uncle George washed the soil from their
roots at the tap.
“Now then,” he said, “let me see how much you remember of our lesson in
the woods. I will begin with Dolly”—and Uncle George held up a lovely
white flower.
“That,” said little Dolly, “is the _wooden enemy_!”
Uncle George laughed loudly, and so did the two boys. Dolly laughed
too—she did not quite know why. She was a merry little girl, who laughed
whenever she got the chance.
“You mean _wood anemone_, dear, don’t you?” said Uncle George, as he
stroked her pretty curly hair.
“Yes, I _mean_ that, Uncle George; but I can’t say it properly,” said
Dolly, still laughing.
“Oh yes, you can if you try—wood a-nem´-o-ne. It is easily pronounced.
Now Frank, it is your turn. What is this one with the great number of
yellow petals, the spotted heart-shaped leaves, and the funny fat
roots?”
“The pilewort, or lesser celandine,” answered Frank.
“Quite right! Now, Tom, here is one for you. This plant, you see, has
broad kidney-shaped leaves with crimped edges, large yellow flowers, and
a coarse round hollow stem. We found it, if you remember, growing in the
mud at the edge of the brook.”
[Illustration: Marsh Marigold.]
“It is the marsh marigold,” said Tom.
“Very good! Now this one?”
As he held it up all three answered at once—“The primrose!”
“We found this one also growing at the edge of the brook.” As he spoke,
Uncle George held out a very pretty plant. Its flowers were of a pale
pinkish blue colour. They were shaped like the flowers of the
wallflower, but were smaller. The flowers were borne up upon a long
stalk which sprang from a rosette of pretty little leaves.
“It is the _lady’s smock_,” said Dolly; “I remembered that one because
it is so pretty.”
“Well done, Dolly!” said her uncle proudly. “Now, I think we have quite
enough to go on with. Let us take these up one by one and examine and
draw parts of them. First take the wood anemone. What do you call this?”
Uncle George pointed to the stout part of the plant that had been in the
ground.
“The root,” said Frank.
“No, Frank!” his uncle replied. “But that is what I thought you would
say. Now, tell us why you think it is the root.”
“Because it grows under ground.”
“But roots do not have buds upon them, Frank: and see! flower-stalk and
leaf-stalk spring from it, while fibrous, or string like, roots hang
down from it.”
“It must be a stem, then,” Frank ventured.
“It _is_ the stem,” said his uncle. “We have already seen that the
creeping crowfoot and ground ivy have stems that creep along on the
surface of the ground.
“Many plants have stems which creep along under ground. This is an
underground stem; and this is another.” Here he pointed to the primrose.
“Why, I always thought that that pink thing was the root of the
primrose,” said Frank; “but I see now that it is really more like a
stem. It has marks upon it like scars.”
[Illustration: Plants with Underground Stems]
[Illustration]
1. Caterpillar, Pupa, and perfect Insect of Tiger Moth
2. Caterpillar, Pupa, and perfect Insect of Magpie Moth
3. White (Cabbage) Butterfly, Male and Female, with Caterpillar and
Pupa
“These are marks where leaves once grew upon it,” his uncle remarked.
“Notice that the primrose leaves form a rosette on the top of this
underground stem.”
“Is there any reason for these plants having their stems under ground?”
Tom asked.
“There is a reason for everything in nature, my boy. Can’t you see any
reason for this yourself?”
“I see one, I think,” said Frank; “it enables the plant to creep out to
new soil.”
“That is one very good reason, Frank. Now, why should it seek other
soil?”
“For food!”
“That is right, Frank. Those plants which have underground stems seem to
die down every autumn; but they are alive all the time under ground,
safe from the frosts and bitter winds which kill tender plants. And they
peep up in a new place in spring.
[Illustration: Anemone.]
“Now I want you to tell me why these underground stems are swollen out
so. It cannot be for strength, for creeping stems don’t require to be
strong.
“Fetch me a raw potato, Tom, please!
“Now,” Uncle George continued, “tell me what this potato is.”
“It is an underground stem,” said Frank.
“Yes! Why is it swollen? What do we use the potato for?”
“For food. Oh, I know,” said Frank, “it is a food store.”
[Illustration: Primrose.]
[Illustration: Pilewort, showing Roots.]
“Of course,” said his uncle. “It is a supply of food gathered up this
year for next year’s plant. Look at the roots of the lesser celandine. I
see Tom has drawn them. They are swollen. Are they roots, or underground
stems?”
“They have neither leaf marks on them, nor buds,” said Frank, “I think
they must be roots.”
“They _are_ roots,” said Uncle George, “but they are food supplies all
the same.
“There are other underground stems that grow quickly. Good examples of
these are mint, couch grass, and sand sedge. The underground stems of
these plants grow so fast that they are always occupying new ground.
They have therefore no need to store up a food supply like their slower
growing neighbours the primrose, potato, anemone, iris, and many
others.”
Exercises on Lesson XI.
1. Dig up a primrose plant, and make a rough sketch showing
underground stem, roots, and leaves.
2. An underground stem may be of use to a plant in three different
ways. Can you name them?
3. There are two distinct kinds of underground stems—those that grow
quickly and those that grow slowly. Name three of each kind,
and tell how they differ in shape.
4. Compare a potato with a horse-chestnut twig. Supposing your twig to
be swollen out with plant-food, what parts of it do the “eyes”
of the potato represent? What do the {scars/marks} near the
“eyes” represent?